Quinnipiac University held the second annual Women and Sports Symposium March 31, under the theme, “Reclaiming our Time: The Rise of Women in Sports.”
Throughout the event, music was provided by Morress “DJ Reese” Cosby.
Along with Quinnipiac students, students from neighboring high schools, such as Hamden High School, Sacred Heart Academy and Hopkins School, were also present.
Professor of Anthropology Hillary Haldane began the event by introducing President Marie Hardin.
It’s a great time to host a women in sports event, according to Hardin, citing recent instances such as the WNBA salary increase and March Madness.
Hardin highlighted the different women’s athletic teams that Quinnipiac currently has, and pointed out the success of such teams, including the fact that the University’s women’s acrobatics and tumbling team is third in the nation overall.
“It’s always wonderful to celebrate the victories for women’s sports… the hard-fought victories for women’s sports as a movement,” she said.
The mic was passed to Haldane again, who introduced Deputy Director of Athletics Sarah Fraser.
“It’s still unusual to have women in very high positions in athletics, and so we’re really lucky at Quinnipiac,” Haldane said, referring to Fraser. “We have someone in that Deputy Director role. I think it’s a real testament to the emphasis and support we have for women in sports at Quinnipiac.”
Haldane has multiple student athletes in her class, and says she sees the work that they put into excelling both on the field and in the classroom. She credits Fraser for this.
Fraser has nearly 25 years of experience, including leadership roles at Brown University and Dartmouth College, as well as the ECAC hockey conference.
“My journey started as a girl playing a boy’s sport,” Fraser said. “That experience shaped everything that came after. Being an athlete taught me resilience and discipline… it prepared me to be a leader in the professional world where women have to fight to have a seat at the table.”
She explained that she often thinks of the concept, sisu, a Finnish word that means grit and determination.
Having a passion for sports, and successfully competing against boys was “physically demanding and it was socially isolating at times,” according to Fraser.
Yet, she wouldn’t trade it for anything, she said.
“I gained a toolbox and a mindset that has stayed with me through every phase of my life. And so I chose to work in college athletics to try and help give those opportunities to others,” she said.
Just because she is designated as the senior woman administrator does not make her the oldest woman in the department, she clarifies. In the 1980s, the NCAA created that designation to ensure a female voice was involved in the decision-making process in every athletic department.
“Essentially, at that point, it was an all-male decision-making process,” she said. “And the truth is, had they not made that move and forced every department to have a woman on the senior staff, it would have taken much longer to evolve to the point we’re at.”
Fraser says that her designation empowers her to look out for the interests of the women on Quinnipiac teams.
She says that even though participation is rising, and potential is foreseeable, growth alone isn’t enough.
“We have to make sure that we have visibility that keeps pace, that stories and achievements and voices of women are seen and heard and valued in the way they deserve to be,” she said.
We all have influence, and it isn’t just a position or title, according to Fraser.
“My hope is that we’ll all leave here not only learning something new, but also seeing new possibilities for ourselves and sports,” she concluded.
The athletics department shared a slideshow of pictures of female Quinnipiac student athletes. The slideshow was a mix of photos, many taken by Quinnipiac students, of multiple different teams, athletes and coaches, including women’s basketball head coach Tricia Fabbri, who announced her retirement earlier this month.
The keynote speaker was former UConn basketball standout and founder of the global nonprofit Women and Kids Academy (W.A.K.E) Batouly Camara.
The success seen today when it comes to women’s sports didn’t just happen, according to Camara.
“That came from women showing up, demanding more and refusing to shrink,” she said.
The theme made her think of her upbringing. She grew up in New York City with immigrant parents from West Guinea, who left to build a better life in the United States. She began playing basketball at 11 years old, where she fell in love with the game and the sisterhood of a team.
Camara reflected on what she wanted, after her father died when she was 12 years old. During this reflection, she filled out boarding school applications, including to Blair Academy, where she was accepted and now works as a college counselor and girls’ basketball coach.
After graduating from high school, she attended the University of Connecticut, where she played on the basketball team.
While there, her team was the team to break the 111-game winning streak. When they went to practice next, they watched film. However, they watched themselves on the bench, not on the court.
“We watched the bench, watched our attitude, watched those who didn’t play, because your energy affects everyone,” she said.
She explained that their coach made them do laps, yet only a few sprinted and others jogged.
“Fortune favors gold. Fortune favors the brave… Those who sprinted are all doing amazing, amazing things,” she said.
When you’re in a program like that, your platform is temporary.
“There are over 500 players who played on UConn. You probably only know 30,” she said.
It made her wonder, in college, what her legacy would be.
“Reclaiming your time is not always big, drastic moments,” according to Camara. “It’s choosing discipline or distraction. It’s locking in for a few months. It’s doing the work when nobody’s watching. And I promised that a few focused months can change your entire life.”
Sometimes it may feel lonely on the self-discovery journey, and you may have to leave people behind.
“Bad Company is worse than loneliness,” she said.
After the keynote speech, panelists moved to the stage.
The panelists consisted of Assistant Professor of Sport Management at UMass Amherst Ajhanai Keaton, expert in sports marketing and fan behavior Ceyda Mumcu, Quinnipiac women’s volleyball coach Kyle Robinson and visiting instructor of sports communications Patricia Mays.
When discussing what shaped them to be where they are today, the panelists shared their challenges and experiences.
A couple shared that they turned to sports to get out of bad situations in their youth.
“If you have the support and the direction or the help, your life can be a beautiful thing,” said Robinson. “That’s what kind of brought me to volleyball and got me off the streets of Philadelphia, and doing silly things as a youth that helped me get into the right direction.”
Robinson credits his change in perception to having children.
“It taught me how to see things from a different perspective. It taught me to not just create a space for my athletes, but to also create a space where they felt welcome, they felt proud. I don’t think I’ve ever told my athletes how proud I was until after the birth of my son,” he said.
Mumca grew up participating in sports in Turkey.
“I made the first mistake choosing the easy way around,” she said. “I picked a team where I would be a standout point guard. You know, the game relies on me, etc. Looking back, I should have picked the more challenging team where I had to fight for my spot.”
She then moved to the United States to pursue a career in sports management.
Mays described her stubbornness as one of her struggles. At the beginning of her career, she began missing out on opportunities by not being open to the unexpected.
When she worked at Associated Press, she took the promotion no one wanted: the night shift. She took a risk, and as a result, she was working during the morning of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“I was part of the national supervising team that edited, that crafted, that made assignments for one of the big stories, again, of our lifetime,” she said. “And from there that really launched my career, news from there, that’s the tradition sometimes.”
The panelists ended with advice to women in the sports industry.
Keaton emphasized the importance of delayed gratification, while Mays encouraged everyone to develop communication skills.
“You just have to show up,” Batouley said to The Chronicle. “Your presence and your energy matter. You can shift the whole room just by being you.”
