Women's sports deserve attention

By Editorial
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 29, 1997
When the men's basketball team won the NCAA Championship last year, celebrations broke out for days on end. School spirit ran high throughout campus.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat, Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen ran full, front page championship coverage.

Indeed, it was a big story.

The women's basketball team did not achieve as much; nonetheless, every year for the last six years, that group of coaches and athletes has gained more recognition for the University of Arizona. Last year, for the first time, the team made the women's NCAA Tournament.

The women's softball team has, for the last seven years, been a championship team Ü in five of those seven years, including the last two, they brought the national championship to this campus.

Marisa Baena won the NCAA title as a freshman and is entering this season as the top ranked women's golfer in the nation.

The UA's most dominant individual athlete, Amy Skieresz, won four national titles last year Ü one in cross country, three in track.

Regardless of this success, women's sports at the UA have failed to draw the sort of fan support usually reserved for football and men's basketball. In part, the blame for this disparity lies at the feet of the press; past treatment of women's athletics by the media in this town, while not atrocious, has been less than complete. Stories of indiscretions and illegal activities perpetrated by male athletes have almost as a matter of course taken precedence over stories of perseverance and triumph by their female counterparts.

Even the national media is not immune to this malaise Ü when NBC ran its history of women's basketball, they neglected to mention the American Basketball League, the rival of the Women's National Basketball Association Ü probably due to the fact that they have a significant contract with both NBAs.

Clearly, this lack of attention is unacceptable.

But the situation is improving. Ten years ago, those basketball leagues would have been ignored to death; now, they at least make the sports page. The U.S. women's soccer team won the gold in Atlanta last year, and the press was quick to recognize it. Women's basketball at the college level is no longer merely an addendum to the men's program. The Wildcat has made stories about the women's track, golf, tennis, and lacrosse teams increasingly important parts of its sports pages, in recognition of their consistent achievements.

Ultimately, the media cannot simply ballyhoo the importance of Title IX and women's sports and consider its collective conscience salved Ü honest, thorough, and consistent reporting of the accomplishments of these talented athletes must become the norm. The Wildcat understands and accepts this challenge, and promises to continue improving.

Fçurther, it would behoove other publications, especially those in the Tucson area, to increase their coverage of women's athletics. The future may not belong entirely to women, but they are certainly an important part of it.

The continued and increasing excellence of UA women's sports programs deserves recognition.

Press coverage will inevitably mean more publicity; which in turn helps spark fan interest; which means more opportunities for female athletes; which generates more press coverage, and so on. It's a cycle that benefits everyone.