It may be time to hit the showers for male practice players

They are considered an essential part of the team. But a new proposal by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics may soon change all that.

The Massachusetts women's basketball team's male practice squad is held in very high regard by the Minutewomen, and is thought to be as important as any other part of the program.

The 15-member CWA committee of administrators and athletes from Division I, II and III schools has requested that the routine of having men scrimmage against women in practice be disallowed.

"[Men practicing with women] violates the spirit of gender equality and Title IX," the CWA said in a statement released on Dec. 6.

Title IX was a groundbreaking federal law requiring fair and equal treatment for any educational program that receives federal funding. Part of the Education Amendments of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX was the first piece of national legislature to ban inequity in policies and programs of any educational institution.

The law especially affects collegiate sports. In short, Title IX states that universities that receive federal funding must spend equal amounts of money on athletic teams for men and women.

Supporters of the new measure feel that permitting men to practice against a women's basketball team takes a backward step from the ruling passed 34 years ago aimed at eliminating any discrimination in the world of academia on the basis on gender.

Despite the noble intentions of the law, certain measures taken in order to comply with it are, at times, considered unnecessary - even by the people it was intended to support.

"I'm not happy. I think the men should be able to play with us," UMass coach Marnie Dacko said. "I think they add a great deal of intensity. They're a great aide in helping women basketball players all over the country and I think [the league] would be doing a disservice if they chose not to allow men to practice [with women].

"I think that somebody out there is complaining," she continued. "You know, they need another cause to complain about and so somebody brings it up and starts something in a negative connotation."

Members of the women's team displayed confusion and disappointment at the idea of the NCAA restricting whom they can practice against.

"I think that it kind of sucks," junior guard and team co-captain, Alisha Tatham said. "We love when the guys come in. They really push us. They give us a lot more than, maybe, if a women's practice team were to come in. The guys are a lot more physical, they're a lot quicker.

"I don't see what's wrong with it," she continued. "There's a lot of people that play against guys all the time. I don't know why they'd take it away."

Neither does junior civil engineering major Ryan James.

James, 21, is one of the six members of the men's practice squad - and he says he's frustrated that the NCAA is trying to interfere with, what he considers, a team's own personal business.

"I can't really see any logic behind this new proposal. At the collegiate level, coaches should be able to prepare their teams in any reasonable way they feel will help their players," he said. "I think the NCAA shouldn't get involved with the structure of women's practice. It should be up to the coaches and the players collectively to decide if men should be allowed to practice or not."

James, a native of South Deerfield, Mass., first donned the uniform of a UMass practice-teamer after seeing a flyer at the basketball courts at the horseshoe in Southwest. After trying it out, he found himself making friends on both the practice squad and the varsity team and decided to stick with it. It's a decision he says he's glad he made.

"I do enjoy scrimmaging against the women. It's fun to play against girls that are just as physical as you are," James said. "I've gone through harder screens playing against the women than I have against most other guys I've played against.

"I'm just happy to be able to play basketball a couple of extra days a week," he said. "And I think [the women] are happy to get an extra challenge a couple days a week."

According to a report by USA Today, though the origin of having males practice against female players can be linked to a few different people, legendary women's coach Pat Summitt is generally credited with instituting the idea at Tennessee in the 1970s.

The strategy paid off for Summitt, now in her 33rd year as head coach of the Lady Volunteers, as she has claimed a record six NCAA titles. Perhaps it is the result of such success that has led to this now-common method being used by basketball programs of countless universities throughout the country.

According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, this is the third season in which UMass has applied the tactic regularly.

In addition to James, the squad also consists of sophomore Steve Games (20-years old), juniors Ken Parsley (20) and Aidan O'Kennedy (21) and senior Zak Tseytlin (22). A sixth member, junior Morgan O'Loughlin (20), practiced with the team in the fall, but has left for a semester abroad in Australia.

On top of trying to protect the dignity of Title IX, advocates for the NCAA's proposed rule also explain that using male practice teams harm the varsity's back-up players.

"To have talented, capable female student-athletes stand on the sidelines during official practice while the team's starters practice against 'more talented men' is a lost opportunity," the statement said. "To have them sitting out of practice while a full 'scout team' of men comes to practice is costing them the opportunity for growth and betterment that they were promised during recruitment."

James disagrees.

"I guess the reasons for this proposal is that it takes away valuable practice time for other girls on the team. Based on my experience, all the girls get plenty of playing time during practice and seem to enjoy the challenge that we give them," he said.

Junior forward and co-captain Kate Mills, certainly enjoys the challenge. And she wholeheartedly appreciates everything the men do to prepare her and her teammates for upcoming games.

"It's disappointing to hear - that [the NCAA] would [try] do something like that," she said. "I think it's the NCAA thinking that it's taking away from [the men's] school or something like that or they're getting something extra than other students. But, it's their decision to come onto the team, so they get some privileges about it."

Not that many privileges, though.

Members of a practice team are obligated to adhere to the same academic standards as every other student-athlete - they must be full-time students, pass a physical examination and maintain a 2.0 grade-point average. They do not, however, benefit from scholarships or excused absences that varsity athletes do. Therefore, they must work their class schedules around practice times.

Though they may not be on scholarship or travel with the team to away games, the members of the scout team are given the same amount of respect as any of the people permitted to enter the women's locker room.

"We definitely consider them a part of our team and one of the reasons for our success - just as much as the coaches or the [jersey players]," Tatham mentioned. "They're a part of our team as well because they're helping us."

Junior guard/forward Pam Rosanio echoes the kudos from her captain.

"I think the guys' team helps. They're a heck of a lot quicker than we are and just stronger, so, I mean, it helps us come gametime when we're playing against people who aren't as quick as [they are]," she said.

The CWA, however, feels that the rule's passing is essential to quell, what it calls a "disappointing" recent trend.

According to the statement, when Title IX was enacted, 90 percent of Division I women's athletic programs and women's teams, were headed by a female. But, in 2006, those numbers had plummeted to eight percent and an all-time low 42.4 percent, respectively.

To add salt to the wound the declined has caused, 82.3 percent of all intercollegiate coaches are men - while a mere 17.7 percent are women.

Those responsible for the proposal feel that prohibiting women's teams from scrimmaging with designated male-scout teams is the only way to increase the number of women active in women's college teams and to gain some of the ground they feel they've lost since 1972.

Tatham, on the other hand, wants everything to stay put.

"I definitely hope it stays the way it is," she said. "I don't want it to go away just because it makes me better as a player."

Ryan James seconds that.

"I hope the proposal falls through," he commented. "If it doesn't, then I'll have to go back to playing against men."