Tag: Sports

An International sQUad



An International sQUad

By Tom Krosnowski

By Tom Krosnowski

It’s an interesting paradox – Earth’s population is growing exponentially, currently estimated at some 7.7 billion people. Why then, does it seem like the world is only getting smaller?

Although it’s on a much smaller scale, the Quinnipiac Bobcats are an interesting example of this phenomenon.

Quinnipiac University is a small private institution in Hamden, Connecticut. Most of the students who attend the school are from the American Northeast, and approximately 97 percent of the student body comes from somewhere within the United States.

However, it’s on the athletic fields where Quinnipiac’s commitment to international recruitment really shines.  

In their never-ending search for team success, the coaches of Quinnipiac’s 21 Division-I teams have reached out overseas. International recruitment is a growing part of the collegiate athletics industry, and it’s something that has become a distinct part of the Quinnipiac Bobcat identity.

How do you think an athlete gets recruited? It seems simple enough – a coach finds potential student-athletes, talks to them, watches them play and maybe offers them a scholarship.

That’s not the case for many of Quinnipiac’s international recruits.

Meet Queenie Lai. A junior from Hong Kong, Lai could almost describe her recruitment process as “reverse recruiting.” Lai was an exceptional golfer back home, but wanted a new challenge on the links at a more competitive level. After an admittedly-late start to the recruitment process, Lai took it upon herself to achieve her goal of playing U.S. collegiate golf.

“I had to play in the States for a whole summer of tournaments, state-to-state,” Lai said. “And, I had to contact at least 50 schools and the coaches and introduce myself and ask if they were interested in recruiting me. Eventually, I landed on Quinnipiac and the coach I have right now. He was one of the nicest, and that meant a lot to me. 

“I had to do most of the work.”

It’s certainly a much different story than the common assumption of university-paid travel, lavish dinners and unlimited budgets. However, Lai is not the only Quinnipiac athlete with an unconventional recruitment story.

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“I had to do most of the work.”
— Queenie Lai on recruiting

 


Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

Bianca Strubbe was at a crossroads. After playing field hockey in her native Poland for 14 years, Strubbe needed a break. She traveled to the United States, settling in West Hartford as an au pair. Her love of field hockey not yet entirely quelled, Strubbe went to a Quinnipiac field hockey game at the suggestion of her host family.

After liking what she saw on the field and in the state-of-the-art facilities, Strubbe decided to bring field hockey back into her life. She played and coached at a local HTC field hockey club team, but never would have found college field hockey if not for a friendly co-worker, who informed her that she’d likely be eligible to play in the NCAA. 

“I didn’t know that, to be honest,” Strubbe said. “None of my friends or Polish players know that we are very welcome in the U.S. playing in college. We don’t have any agencies, we don’t have any connection with U.S. colleges, so, to be honest, we don’t know that we have the chance to earn our degree and play field hockey here.” 

Now in her second year as a graduate student at Quinnipiac, Strubbe has made a seamless transition. She’s the team’s leading scorer this season, and her English has improved immensely, thanks in part to her choosing journalism for her major.

Although foreign students are often taught English, the field hockey team is careful to keep an international influence around to keep their players comfortable. 

“It’s good to have someone who has the same accent as me,” Strubbe said. “We feel comfortable, we don’t feel afraid to talk. It’s good to have international students around you.”


Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

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“We don’t know that we have the chance to earn our degree and play field hockey here.”
— Bianca Strubbe

 

Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey forward Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout didn’t quite have that same luxury. Although she was one of seven international players on the team her freshman year, all Canadians, she was the only one who predominantly spoke French. Fortunately, head coach Cassandra Turner did her best to help Coutu-Godbout adapt.

“Cass knew right off the bat that I couldn’t really speak English, so she was very patient,” Coutu-Godbout said. “She sent me recommendations and books to read to practice my English, as well as helping me with all the stuff I needed to do. For me, that’s exactly what I needed. The integration here in the U.S. was pretty smooth because of the coaches.”

Much like Strubbe, Coutu-Godbout wasn’t initially aware of the opportunity she had to play in the United States, albeit for different reasons. 

“In Quebec, they want to maintain all the Quebec players in Canada. It’s kind of against them to go to the U.S.,” Coutu-Godbout said. “So a lot of the teams won’t help you get a spot on a (U.S.) team, so I was pretty much doing it by myself.

“The girls (in America) can be recruited at 13, but in Quebec, it’s another world. They want to keep it away, they don’t want you to come here.”

Even though her peers didn’t want Coutu-Godbout to play college hockey stateside, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I really enjoy it here,” Coutu-Godbout said. “I think it’s the perfect choice for me, and I’m really happy about it. I never looked back on it.”

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“In Quebec, it’s another world. They want to keep it away, they don’t want you to come here.”
— Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout

 


Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

How much can you learn about someone through a computer screen? According to the coaches at Quinnipiac, quite a bit.

“This generation is a little different,” men’s soccer coach Eric Da Costa said. “Unfortunately, communication is a little bit harder in terms of getting on the phone and having a phone conversation, so we do a lot of Skype, we do a lot of WhatsApp, FaceTime, just trying to get that time with the guys and figure out who they are, what they’re about, what makes them tick, and (if) that fits into what we do here.” 

If Da Costa and his coaching staff have the ability to travel overseas to visit a player, they will. More often than not though, the soccer team recruits its players over the internet due to budgetary and travel restrictions.

“We have to be cautious about how we spend our money,” Da Costa said. 

According to Da Costa, it’s easier to recruit international soccer players than Americans.


Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

“Recruiting the American kids is actually a lot more difficult for us,” Da Costa said. “They want the glitz, they want the glamour. They know the differences between the institutions in terms of prestige or popularity, so they look their nose down at us.”

Once coaches have a good experience with a player from a certain area, they are more likely to revisit that region in future recruiting. Take Quinnipiac field hockey, for example. Head coach Becca Main has presided over the program for all 25 years of its existence, and has designated “pockets” of international talent. The team likes to focus its recruiting efforts in areas like South Africa, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, where several successful players have come from before.

Field hockey is uniquely positioned for international recruiting, compared to some of Quinnipiac’s other sports. According to Main, international players are the preferred recruits for the program due to their added experience.

“(International recruits) have almost 10 years on an American student – they’ve been playing 10 years longer,” Main said. “In general, most Americans have been playing 4-6 years, max. … You get (an international) coming in, they’ve got 16 years (of experience). They’re just better at playing the sport.”

With all of the different languages and cultures on the team, Main tries to make sure that each international player has at least one other teammate who speaks their language. It could be hard to mesh all these different pieces together, but creative thinking from the coaching staff makes it all fit.

“I think the best thing about our international players is that, the ‘groupthink mentality’ – we don’t have that anymore,” Main said. “We have the ability to think outside the box.”


Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics

Athletic recruitment is one thing, but these are still “student”-athletes. The players must fit into Quinnipiac’s academic profile, and the admissions department gives very clear outlines to the coaches about what requirements each student-athlete needs to be accepted into Quinnipiac, from English language scores to academic grades.

Andrew Antone, director of international recruitment and admissions at Quinnipiac, says that once the students get to Quinnipiac, the school has several resources to help international students adapt.

“We have a global partners program where students are mentored by upperclassmen, and say, ‘OK, this is how you make the transition,’” Antone said. “We have global education, where they can be with other students. We have an international student orientation, which I think is a big help for them.” 

To continue to attract international students, the university has initiated a new “Strategic Plan” that emphasizes globalization among the steps toward becoming the university of the future. Antone believes that the strategic plan will help make Quinnipiac even more appealing to international students.

“Especially with the new strategic plan, I think you’re going to see that number (of international students) grow, given what we’re offering,” Antone said. “The way that we’re looking forward … I think what the strategic plan does is force us to look within and change some of the policies and the way we do things to enhance everyone else’s experiences.”

 

In all, there are about 70 international student-athletes from more than 20 countries. That may not sound like a lot with Quinnipiac’s student population of over 10,000 and a core of student-athletes almost 500 deep.

To the international players though, it’s not about the numbers. It’s about the experience – an experience that has made Quinnipiac athletics more diverse, and more talented.

“I feel like I’m experiencing the same college experience as other people,” Lai said. “I wouldn’t say it’s any different than how they’re experiencing it.” 

Quinnipiac isn’t as well-known as some other Division-I programs. None of the 10 international students interviewed said they knew anything about Quinnipiac before they were first recruited. Once they hear about all the school has to offer them, it’s hard to say no.

“We’ve closed those gaps with this (soccer) facility, obviously our institution, our campus,” Da Costa said. “At the end of the day, an international kid and his family want to go to a place where they’re cared about. They want to go to a place where they can study and play at two high levels. They want to go to a place where they can feel safe – and enjoy.

“And we can offer all of that.”

Just Let Them Play

By Andrew Weiss

Connecticut sports fans see April 13, 1997, as the day pro sports died in the state. It was the final time the NHL’s Hartford Whalers would play before heading south to North Carolina.

But that perception is wrong, Pro sports are thriving in Connecticut, just not in the way a casual sports fan may see.

Women’s professional and collegiate sports teams have leapt up to fill the gap left behind. From the history of the Raybestos Brakettes to the growth of the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team to the expansion of hockey, soccer, and basketball in the state has proven that Connecticut is growing women’s sports.

So how has this passed by some fans? Pro sports evolved as a largely male activity in the United States, with the role of women restricted to sideline activities such as cheering, even though they participated in leagues of their own.

An act of the United States government was the first step in growing sports for women. In 1972, the United States Congress sought to provide steps forward in the battle for civil rights. As part of a larger bill, Title IX was given power to prevent discrimination based on sex. This law was not enacted with sports in mind, but has since grown to assist participation among women in sports.

Per the National Women’s Law Center, “There is no shortage of interest by women and girls in participating in athletics. Since 1972, when Title IX first opened up opportunities for women and girls, female participation in high school athletics has skyrocketed by almost 900%, disproving claims made by opponents of Title IX that the lower numbers of female athletes are due to lack of interest as opposed to lack of opportunities.”

Since the law was passed in 1972, female participation in high school sports has grown an astonishing 1,018 percent, compared with 23 percent for men.


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However, despite the growth, women continue to look for equal footing among the sports world. The NWLC has found that “women in Division I colleges, while representing 53 percent of the student body, receive only 45 percent of the participation opportunities, 34 percent of the total money spent on athletics, 45 percent of the total athletic scholarship dollars, and 32 percent of recruiting dollars.”

That bottom line? Equality in sports is within reach, yet continues to be pushed to the side. The fault, however, is traced among many lines.

Laura Burton, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut, linked growth issues in women’s sports to the very top of the ladder.

“There are very few women in leadership positions in sports organizations across all domains, from interscholastic, intercollegiate, professional or international sport. Women are really underrepresented in leadership,” Burton said. “Half your participant population is women, or girls, (so) why don’t we have an equal number of people at the leadership table?”

Burton believed the connection between sports and masculinity created stereotypes that hold women back from administrative roles.

“We don’t perceive women to be capable of and/or do we want them in leadership positions in general. In sport organizations, because we think it’s a real male domain, we don’t think that women can run a football program or an athletic department. There’s a lot of stereotyping that’s influencing women, both trying to get into those positions and how we evaluate them when they’re in it.”

The presence of women’s sports in the media also plays a role. Per the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, women’s athletics receive only about 4 percent of all sports media coverage.

Amanda Ottaway. a former college basketball player at Davidson and now a journalist, delved into that study. Her work with women’s sports has seen publication in The Washington Post and ESPNW among others. She pinned the issue solely on media portrayal.

“Other studies have put television time as low as 1 percent,” Ottaway said. “Yet, 44 years after the passage of Title IX, women and girls in the United States are playing and following sports in unprecedented numbers.”

The numbers, Ottaway says, backs that thought.

“40 percent of all sports participants are female, according to the Tucker Center, and roughly a third of fans of major sports are women. The evolution of women’s sports over the last four decades has been dramatic; the media coverage, not so much. All these statistics beg the question: Would we have more reporting on women’s sports if more sports reporters and editors were women? And would the quality of that coverage be better?”

Rebecca Carlson, a three-time national champion as the women’s rugby coach at Quinnipiac University, uses a trip to the ice cream parlor to best describe the issue. Picking a sport to watch on television is like picking a flavor, and every sport with men is just another bowl of strawberry ice cream.

“I have two choices for you, and I want you to try them and then you tell me which one you like more,” Carlson said. “Here’s some strawberry ice cream, and then also some strawberry ice cream. If I’m not given anything else, I guess I’ll take the strawberry.”

Carlson explained that data shows viewers prefer to watch men’s sports, but only because they are given more men’s sports than any other option, including the women.

“If you hate it you’re not going to watch it, but there’s going to be people that will be like ‘It’s what’s on, I’ll watch,’ or ‘it’s there, I’ll eat it.’ How do we change that? (Connecticut) gives us a clean slate because the airwaves aren’t cluttered with (mens sports). That opportunity is there… because of our state. What else do they talk about in Connecticut?”

Carlson joins a handful of coaches that face a unique situation in Connecticut. A lack of men’s professional sports, combined with a hungry fan base, has given women’s sports open ground to thrive. Given the state’s history with women’s sports, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

In 1947, before Title IX or most of the half-hearted attempts to grow women’s sports emerged, William Simpson had an idea. The chairman of Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. founded a fast-pitch softball team, sponsored by his factory. The team, named the Raybestos Bracketts to publicize the company’s motor vehicle brake linings, set the standard for women’s sports in Connecticut. Donna Lopiano, a national champion with the Brakettes, joined in 1962 when she was only 16 years old.

“Prior to the 1970s, prior to Title IX, girls sports were relatively nonexistent,” Lopiano said. “If they existed at the high school level, a high school’s idea of a girl’s basketball team might be five or six games in the season. It might not even be head to head competition against another school. It might be four or five schools getting together and having a play date with two kids from every school on each team.”

Lopiano lamented the lack of opportunities for young female athletes.

“There were no scholarships. Postseason play was nonexistent. Those things didn’t exist. As a result, if you were good at something, you had to turn to open amateur sport, or be satisfied with terrible opportunities at the high school or college level.”


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Open amateur sport was the only option for Lopiano, who wanted to prove her skill years after being kicked out of Little League baseball for being a girl.

“Fortunately, the Raybestos Brakettes were a nationally successful women’s softball team,” said Lopiano. “They had the same reputation of being at the top of the game.”

With that history in mind, Lopiano claimed Connecticut was ready for professional women’s sports.

“There was a fertile garden for (women’s sports in Connecticut) to grow, and a lot of it was whether or not there were competing plants. (There are no) weeds that will take over. It’s still true today.”

In the 1970s, the Brakettes went on to form the core of the Connecticut Falcons of the international women’s pro softball league. The Falcons played in Meriden, Connecticut, and drew over 2,000 fans per home game. The team featured one of the greatest athletes of all time in pitcher Joan Joyce, who once faced Ted Williams in an exhibition game in Waterbury, Connecticut. The Falcons were owned by Joyce, Billie Jean King and Jane Blalock, and helped grow recognition of both the sport and the athletes, all women.

The Brakettes prepared the ground for an even more popular team, one that is now considered to be a dynasty in women’s sports.

The rise of the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team from obscurity in Storrs, Connecticut, to national prominence stands as an example of how state fans stood ready to rally behind women’s sports. The UConn men’s basketball team was earning its national reputation at the time, but the UConn women had something the men’s team did not have: local television coverage. UConn women’s basketball drew record ratings and would dominate the local market when it played, eventually leading to higher volumes of fans at the games.

“In 1989,  the University  of Connecticut’s  women’s basketball  team played before just  287 fans in the front half of a doubleheader shared with the men. During the 2009-10 season, UConn women set the NCAA record for invincibility by earning a 90-game winning streak, supported by a total of 357,627 fans attending Connecticut’s 39 games,” the NWLC stated.

Amber Cox, the vice president of the Connecticut Sun, has a special name for it. Her Sun play in the Women’s National Basketball Association, and find their home in the Mohegan Sun casino.

“I think what’s interesting about this state— and specifically what I would call the ‘UConn effect’— is that there is less bias when it comes to women playing basketball,” Cox said.

“You don’t get as much resistance when you call somebody up and say ‘Hey, would you like to buy a season ticket to the WNBA, (to) the Connecticut Sun.’ The resistance is never that it’s women playing basketball, and I think it’s accepted in this state, probably more so than other parts of the country.”

Her colleagues with the Sun agree, and the attendance figures support that perspective.

The WNBA attracted a record attendance of 1.5 million in 2017, with teams averaging 7,716 fans per game, the most since 2011, according to Ben York of the Connecticut Sun. The Sun’s attendance grew 15.3 percent, he said. On social media, the WNBA broke records with more than 679 million impressions, a growth of 59 percent, and over 140 million video views, which was a growth of 233 percent.

The reach of the “UConn effect” extends beyond basketball. Connecticut harbors growing amounts of women’s sports teams, at both the collegiate and professional levels. The National Women’s Hockey League features only four teams, including three in major markets such as Buffalo, Newark, and Boston. However, they also found a home for a team in Stamford, with the Connecticut Whale.

Kelly Babstock, a forward for the Whale, set a Quinnipiac record with 203 career points before joining the NWHL.

“Personally, playing professional sports in Connecticut connects with me more because I went to school at Quinnipiac,” Babstock said. “I have had fans that followed me at Quinnipiac who follow the Whale now. I think that is amazing to have their continued support.”

“Connecticut has become my home away from home and I love every minute playing in this state as it provided me with great memories. It was a perfect fit to continue my professional career.”


Babstock is prominently featured on social media with the Whale, including this gif here.

Babstock is prominently featured on social media with the Whale, including this gif here.

Soccer has found a way into the Constitution State as well, with growth at youth levels reaching its way into a team with United Women’s Soccer. The impact of having professional players nearby to serve as role models is not understated to JP DiTommaso, the head coach of the Connecticut Fusion in the UWS.

“This is an opportunity for girls who have worked tirelessly over the years, putting in work to perfect their trade,” DiTommaso said. “(Young female athletes can) go on to play in college and have (soccer as) an outlet in college. After college they can showcase the hard work and dedication they’ve put in (by going pro).

“It’s a great opportunity for these young girls to look up and say ‘Hey, I want to be there some day’ and it would be at this next stage. For the girls, they can say this is possible, this is achievable.”

DiTommaso also serves as a coach with youth soccer for girls, working with a club in Farmington. He sees the UConn effect growing in his backyard.

“You have people of all ages and all backgrounds coming out to support (UConn women’s basketball). I think that’s a tremendous trickle down effect to not only other schools and other programs across Connecticut, but down to all ages. It’s helped to create an environment that can foster growth in women’s athletics.”

Work remains in creating equality for women in sports. At Quinnipiac, Carlson has hurdled through media hoops repeatedly trying to get attention for her team, which has set an example across the nation for how to grow a women’s rugby program.

Like many coaches in women’s sports, she has faced challenges head on. She founded TheFearlessCoach.org after dealing with Title IX issues herself, and lends support to other coaches facing discrimination or lack of administrative support.

Connecticut’s history with women’s pro sports that started with the Raybestos Brakettes in the 1940s will persist as the 21st century deepens, giving the state a unique place in modern sports history as one whose fans love a winner regardless of gender.

“You change (women’s sports) by the next generation being exposed to it where it becomes the norm,” Carlson said. “(Any) little girl has access to watch women on television. That exposure, now you see it.”

“Women’s sports” are on the way to becoming, deservedly, just “sports.” Soon, the casual sports fan will see it, too.

A culture of abuse: How to avoid it before it’s too late


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By Grace Manthey

Note: this article was updated on April 9 to clarify Sara MacDonough’s comments.

When Nicole Connery signed with Quinnipiac’s women’s ice hockey team for the 2012 season she didn’t know the suffering she would endure for the next three years.

Coaches from her hometown of Newmarket, Ontario, warned her when she told them where she was going. They told her they had heard things.

“But I was like, a lot of coaches yell,” Connery remembered.

Rick Seeley was Connery’s coach at Quinnipiac until her junior year when the university fired him in April 2015 for verbal and physical abuse of his players. But according to student surveys originally reported by Q30 Television, students had been reporting incidents since 2009.

“It could have been avoided earlier if our surveys were read and understood,” Connery said. “It’s the only thing I don’t understand of how those things were swept under the rug. I’ll never understand that.”

Every student athlete fills out a survey at the end of his or her season. After Connery’s first year she said she wrote long and honest answers detailing the abuse. But after a while she figured no one seemed to be listening.


Photo courtesy of Nicole Connery

Photo courtesy of Nicole Connery

In her first survey, Connery described an incident where Seeley had the team run from the Mount Carmel campus to York Hill at 5 a.m. Afterward they had practice without an athletic trainer and a player tore a ligament in her knee.

After her sophomore year, Connery said since she didn’t feel like administrators were listening to the surveys. She just wrote that Seeley, “probably shouldn’t aim a slapshot at a player that did something wrong in practice.”

A more public incident at an NCAA tournament loss against Harvard sparked the end of the abuse.

Seeley not only started swearing at his players, but also grabbed one by the facemask. Another coach had to pull Seeley off of the player. 

“Not only did we all see the incident but my parents, other parents, parents on the other team, and players on the other team saw this incident and was horrified,” said one player in her anonymous survey.

Former athletic director Jack McDonald, who was at Quinnipiac during the Seeley scandal, declined to comment on the incident.

The university hired Sarah Fraser in 2016, so she wasn’t around for Seeley’s firing. However, as the deputy director of athletics she is now one of the administrators who reads the athlete surveys.

Fraser is also the senior women administrator at Quinnipiac, a role designed to promote women within the school, according to the NCAA.

She said the student athlete surveys are anonymous because they allow student athletes to feel more comfortable being honest. While she said she feels strongly that they should stay that way, she also thinks the anonymity makes it hard for administrators to pinpoint problems.

“The challenge is not being able to follow up with somebody to get additional detail or verify how true something may be,” said Fraser.

This challenge may be part of why physical, verbal and emotional abuse is widespread in high-level sport – and why it’s been traditionally ignored. Players say that the culture demands that athletes tough it out for fear of retaliation or being seen as weak. So they don’t usually speak up. This leads to a communication barrier between athletes and coaches that can leave abusive behavior hiding in plain sight. 

In fact, nearly half of all current or former athletes have experienced some negative interaction with a coach, whether they felt like the coach was picking on them, or crossed a line, according to an online survey of 62 current or former high school and college athletes in the U.S.


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It’s a decades-long problem that has recently gotten the spotlight because players are starting to speak out.

Earlier this year, a Michigan court sentenced former USA Gymnastics (USAG) team doctor Larry Nassar on sexual assault charges. The statements from the hundreds of girls and women Nassar abused exposed the true abusive culture of USAG’s desire to win more medals. Meanwhile, a book published back in 1995 explained the abusive culture of elite gymnastics, yet the governing body did nothing until gymnasts started speaking up.

But most athletes do not speak up, according to the online survey. One anonymous respondent said, “we are taught to put our heads down and deal with it.” Many ignored negative interactions with their coaches. But that has consequences.  

A study from 2008 found that emotional abuse, rather than verbal or physical, had the most negative effect on the well being of 14 elite, retired swimmers. The study defined emotional abuse as “sustained and repeated patterns of contact-free harmful interactions between an athlete and caregiver (coach) that resulted in emotional upset of the athlete.”

Quinnipiac fired Seeley for verbal and physical abuse, but the surveys also show signs of emotional abuse.

“He even told a member of the team that she was in fact nothing to this team and that she was worthless,” said one student athlete in a 2013 survey. “He told a girl … when she was ready to quit that if she goes home all she will be is a waitress and that she will have no life.”

The study also found emotional abuse was the least studied form of abuse, especially in athletics. But it’s one of the most common.  

In another 2004 study, all interviewed athletes said their coach had abused them in some way. This resulted in them feeling worthless, lacking self confidence, depressed, humiliated or fearful.

The study went on to point out that these feelings lead to a “lack of belief in their own ability to perform,” which ultimately ends up making them play worse.

Also, the “only the strong survive/no pain, no gain” attitude is a myth according to Celia Brackenridge, the director of the Centre for Youth Sport and Athlete Welfare at Brunel University in West London.

“This attitude reflects institutional intolerance for maltreating athletes and overlooks the longer term harm that can result for ‘tough’ training and coaching regimes,” said Brackenridge in a 2010 keynote address at the “How Safe is Your Sport” conference.

Sara MacDonough, Quinnipiac University athletic trainer and mental health liaison said she couldn’t comment on the women’s ice hockey incident. But in general she thinks communication could be a way to foster a good relationship between athletes and coaches.

“If you can talk it out and understand where people are coming from and understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, then no one abuses their power and we can keep that check and balance in place,” she said.

According to former student athlete Connery, communication wasn’t always a solution for her. While her friends would go to other staff members to “let it out and cry,” Connery said she had no one she felt like she could trust. She said Seeley gave the impression that if anyone talked it would get back to him and they would be punished. 

“For me it was hard because I never let myself flush out those feelings, what I had was just bottled up,” Connery said. “It’s not good for your health and you end up numb. Communication was just non-existent for me.”  

Kelly Frassinelli, the field hockey coach and senior woman administrator at Southern Connecticut State University, said every school handles the role a little differently.

At Southern, Frassinelli’s role as SWA can include sitting down with athletes and talking with them about athletic, academic or social problems. As the field hockey coach she has regular meetings with her players to check in. However, in addition to communication on the athlete’s end, coaches must have a strong moral compass, Frassinelli said.

“I guess for me with all the stuff that’s going on in the world I just, I’ve never tolerated that. I’ve never felt that you know that in a role of power … you should ever take advantage of that role,” Frassinelli said.

She continued and said it might be easy to get lost in a moment, but that coaches have to remember there is life after sport.

“You have to stick by knowing that these are individuals you’re trying to make better people so that when they leave here, they might not be an Olympic athlete, but they’re going to be a good person,” she said.

Frassinelli recognizes that conversations between athletes and coaches will not always be pleasant, like after a game when a player has made a mistake.

“That’s where we encourage them to come talk to us,” she said. “And I know it’s hard for them sometimes but we’re going to give the honest answer whether you like the answer or not. But we’re going to try to communicate it.”

The line between being a tough coach and an abusive one is sometimes blurry, according to Frassinelli. Avoiding it totally may be impossible, but the important part is the way potentially abusive behavior is managed, she said. Coaches, athletes and administrations must build enough trust to do that.

“I think about how often is there oversight, how often are athletic directors or even associate ADs watching the interactions that are happening with their coaching staff and their student athletes just to check, just to make sure,” Frassinelli said.

Fraser, Quinnipiac’s SWA, said she believes administrator involvement is vital to understanding the cultures of the programs they oversee.

“I think the role is knowing enough about the programs you’re reading about going into the survey, so that most of what is said isn’t a surprise,” she said. “So if you’re doing your job [as an administrator] there shouldn’t be too many things there that you had no idea about because you’re close enough to the coaches, you’re close enough to the student athletes, you’re close enough to the program from just being around.”

However, Quinnipiac counselor Mary Pellitteri believes trust may be the wrong word to use when trying to avoid abusive behavior.

“Take trust and throw it right out the window,”Pellitteri said. “That’s a word that is way overused in my opinion because it’s something that has to be earned.” 

Pellitteri said athletes need to not only get to know their coaches, but also get over the possible embarrassment of speaking up if they feel wronged.

“We feel like, ‘oh don’t be such a fuddy duddy’ or whatever, and that’s when it gets more and more uncomfortable,” she said. “So I think it’s more about trusting yourself to be able to stand up for things.”

However, as an athlete who has witnessed this behavior, Connery believes athletes sticking up for themselves can be a double-edged sword.

“They’re a wuss if they [admit it bothers them] and then people pull the whole ‘if you’re at a high level, if you’re a D1 athlete you need to be able to handle this,’” she said.

NCAA surveys mirror Connery’s thoughts.

In the most recent Growth, Opportunities, Aspirations and Learning of Students in college or GOALS survey, about half of female respondents said they were “very comfortable” going to their captains with team problems. The percentage increased from freshmen to seniors.

However, when asked how comfortable they were talking to coaches about team problems, a higher percentage of student athletes selected “somewhat comfortable” or “somewhat uncomfortable.”

When asked how comfortable they would be talking with administrators about problems on a team, over half were “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” across all years.   


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It was Connery’s captain, Morgan Fritz-Ward who faced discomfort and requested a meeting with administration. She and her team decided they were not going to let any more athletes suffer from their coach’s behaviors.

And once Seeley was gone, Connery, in her senior season found her love for hockey again. 

“The coaches let me be a little more like, free, the way that I am,” said Connery. “And all the love poured in again.”

While the new head ice hockey coach and assistant under Seeley, Cassandra Turner, was not someone the players felt like they could go to in their time of suffering, Connery found a way to enjoy her senior season.

“In order for you to do better you have to forgive,” Connery said. “She’s very good at communicating with people … She’s very good at understanding people’s minds. I trusted that she could do well, could teach us well, could be a good coach and everything.”

MacDonough, the Quinnipiac trainer and mental health liaison, said that it’s important for coaches to have a healthy line of communication between them and their athletes and to not let too many personal feelings get in the way.

“We have a duty to check those behaviors, check our emotions at the door. If our student athlete isn’t performing well I do think that we have to hold them accountable and say ‘hey you’re slipping, what’s going on,’” she said.

So while student athletes can sometimes feel like no one is listening, experts say there is a way of managing problems between athletes and coaches. Abuse in women’s sports can be avoided with communication, accountability, respect and self esteem.

From Connery’s point of view, “you’ve gotta really value yourself … and know what you deserve and the kind of way you should be treated … put that value up higher.”

Reporter’s note: In the interest of full disclosure, Grace Manthey is a student athlete at Quinnipiac on the Acrobatics and Tumbling team.