GETTING THE GIRL: FEMALE ATHLETES’ NARRATIVES OF THE RECRUITING PROCESS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Megan Elise Chawansky, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2008 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Melvin Adelman, Advisor Professor Sarah K. Fields Professor Sabra Webber ____________________________ Advisor, College of Education and Human Ecology ABSTRACT Current mainstream literature on the recruitment of high school athletes typically falls into two categories: exaggerated accounts of the recruiting process or practical guides to help one get recruited. Existing research on the topic tends to investigate the status of recruiting within particular institutions or the reasons why prospective student-athletes choose the college or university they do. In nearly all instances, little analysis of the gendered nature of recruiting takes place and stories from women’s sports are rare. This void leaves us with little understanding of what it means for females to be recruited, what methods are used to recruit female athletes, and how female athletes make sense of their recruiting experiences. This project aims to fill this void by interviewing current and former NCAA Division I women’s basketball players who have navigated the recruiting process en route to an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. An analysis of their narratives provides a better understanding of the feelings that female student-athletes experience while being courted as prospective student-athletes, documents changes and trends in recruiting, and enables a richer comprehension of how NCAA rules and regulations impact the recruiting process and the lives of female athletes. Additionally, this project presents a way in which recruiting research can attend to both participants’ experiences and larger socio-cultural, historical, and philosophical contexts by using a framework of feminist legal theory. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I received support from a number of people as I worked on this project. My dissertation advisor, Dr. Adelman, expressed interest in this topic from day one, and his belief that it was a project worth pursuing helped me to stay motivated and focused. Dr. Fields offered me timely feedback and support, and I am grateful for the time and energy she gave to me and this project. Dr. Webber went beyond the call of duty and provided me with critical commentary during the final stage of this project. I also learned a lot about the power of storytelling from her. My “unofficial” dissertation committee consisted of Monica, Lee, Lakesia, Valora, and Claire; I am thankful to all of you for your unconditional support. My family, especially my sister Amanda, listened to me talk about this project for years, and I am lucky to be a part of such a supportive group. Finally, thank you to the Coca Cola Critical Difference for Women grants program at The Ohio State University and Texas A & M University’s Laboratory for the Study of Diversity in Sport. Both deemed this project worthy of financial support and provided me with a much needed boost. iii VITA October 18, 1976……………………Born – Elyria, Ohio 1999…………………………………B.A. Psychology and Women’s Studies Northwestern University 1999 – 2000…………………………Development Intern Women’s Sports Foundation East Meadow, NY 2000 – 2002 ………………………...Graduate Teaching Associate Department of Women’s Studies The Ohio State University 2002 …………………………….......M.A. Women’s Studies The Ohio State University 2002 – 2004………………………….Head Women’s Basketball Coach Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT 2004 – present ……………………....Graduate Teaching Associate Department of Physical Activity and Educational Services The Ohio State University PUBLICATION Chawansky, M. (2005). That Takes Balls: Towards a Feminist Coaching Methodology. Women’s Studies Quarterly. 33: 105-119. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Education Sport Studies iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...ii Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………….……....iii Vita…………………………………………………………………………. ………iv Chapters: 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………….1 2. Terminology and Methodologies…………………………………………..13 Terminology Feminist Research: Multiple Methodologies Feminist Legal Theory: Outlining the Chapters 3. Equality Stage: The Kellmeyer and Communities for Equity Lawsuits….…31 Kellmeyer Lawsuit Communities for Equity Lawsuit Female Athletes Speak about Recruiting 4. Difference Stage: NCAA Rules and Bylaws………………………………..49 Introduction to NCAA Division I Rules and Bylaws Female Athletes Speak about NCAA Recruiting Rules and Bylaws and Gender Difference 5. Diversity Stage: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Sexuality……………..70 Race, Gender, and Recruiting Female Athletes Speak about Sexuality, Gender, and Recruiting 6. Postmodern Stage: Generation Text/Generation Next……………………...94 Epilogue…………………………………………………………………….102 Appendices Appendix A Literature Review…………………………………………...105 Appendix B Interview Protocol…………………………………………..120 Appendix C Email Sent to Prospective Participants……………………...133 Appendix D Interview Guide……………………………………………..134 Appendix E Demographic Information…………………………………..135 v References……………………………………………………………….…………136 vi “The world is made of stories, not of atoms.” -Poet Muriel Rukeyser vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION “Do you have a boyfriend?” the young woman asked me as we sat in my modest, yet comfortable, office. I leaned back in my chair, attempted to look unfazed, and thought quickly about how I should answer this question. I felt her dad, sitting in a chair to my left, look at me. I was a young basketball coach at a small college, attempting to hold together a program that had been sorely neglected. The young woman that asked the question was an impressive junior college player who could come in and offer two years of experience and leadership for my budding team. Through emails and weekly phone calls over the past several months, I had established a comfortable rapport with this young woman. I was proud that my work had finally brought her to campus to hopefully “seal the deal” and convince her that we were a good fit. Yet, at this particular moment, all I felt was panic; in my mind, this question could make it or break it. Months of work - of evening phone calls and emails - would perhaps all come down to this answer. “No,” I said, and I smiled apologetically. I hoped my blasé response covered the mixture of fear and sadness I felt on the inside. “Do you?” I asked quickly and attempted to return the focus of the conversation back to her. 1 I do not remember what she said, and honestly, I cannot even recollect this particular athlete’s name. What I do recall is that this young woman taught me an important lesson about the sexual politics of intercollegiate recruiting. She did not end up coming to my school, and I will never know if my response to this question mattered to her or not. To her, the question could have been mere chit chat, a question she would have felt comfortable asking any woman close to her age. To me, the question spoke to the idiosyncratic and highly complex world of women’s basketball recruiting, where identities such as gender and sexual orientation matter when a young women attempts to make her college choice. At the very least, I can attest to the fact that these things mattered to me. When I was a high school athlete and was recruited to play National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I basketball, these identities mattered a great deal, though I am a bit embarrassed to admit this now. As a feminist sport sociologist, it pains me to review my high school scrapbook and find articles where I readily admit that my college choice hinged on my desire to be coached by a male simply because I felt that I responded better to male coaches. Despite the fact that I was coached and led to a high school state championship by a female coach, I easily fell prey to the stories which suggested (and continue to suggest) that men were better and tougher coaches, and further, that male coaches were the ones who would challenge me the most. I also succumbed to the homophobic comments that made me wary of college programs with female head coaches. “They [female coaches] will ‘sleep’ with their players,” well- meaning folks warned me, “and you don’t want to deal with that on your team.” As a dedicated and serious athlete, I knew that this type of player-coach interaction could spell 2 disaster. However, I did not yet have the knowledge base to know that this well-meaning advice reflected a history of sexism and homophobia within women’s sports. Therefore, I did not question these assumptions as I navigated recruiting. Rather, I took in all these narratives and planned unofficial visits to schools that solicited my basketball talents. I traveled to three schools, and not surprisingly, each one had a white, male head coach at the helm. On one level, then, this research project is about me understanding and coming to terms with my own experiences as a recruit and a recruiter. I often wondered: how did my recruiting experience compare to what other women experienced? Did other female athletes remember recruiting as I did? Did we experience significant differences along axes of age, race, class, ethnicity and sexuality? While certain researcher paradigms would find the personal interest I have with this project problematic and a potential site of bias, Rinehart (2006) notes that the move towards “more overtly personal”