STRONG, GETTING STRONGER FEMALE TEAMS' SUCCESS IMPORTANT TO BIG WEST.Byline: Lee Barnathan Staff Writer Cindy Spiro remembers the dark days of women's athletics, when the female teams fought for gym time, shared uniforms with the other women's teams and traveled in broken-down vehicles, stopping to eat fast food. That was the mid-1970s, when Spiro was a basketball player at the University of the Pacific. Now, Spiro, an associate athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic at her alma mater ma·ter n. Chiefly British Mother. [Latin m  ter; see m , sits
as a witness of the last decade, where women's intercollegiate in·ter·col·le·giate adj. Involving or representing two or more colleges. Adj. 1. intercollegiate - used of competition between colleges or universities; "intercollegiate basketball" athletics have grown so rapidly that no one gives any thought to women seeking scholarships. Up and down the Big West Conference, opportunities for female athletes are plentiful. It might be because of federal legislation (Title IX) or by lawsuits (the Cal State system's agreement with the state National Organization of Women chapter), but regardless, women's sports are strong, well-funded and successful. Like Cal State Northridge, many of the conference's schools fund their women's sports at higher levels than their male counterparts. Schools with Division I-A football programs (Idaho and Utah State) must fund the women's sports at high levels to meet Title IX requirements. ``Conference membership has a responsibility for funding at high levels,'' Spiro said. The conference considers its two strongest women's sports to be women's volleyball and softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' , with women's basketball Women's basketball is one of the few games which developed in tandem with men's. It became popular, spreading from the east coast of the United States to the west coast, in large part via women's colleges. on the rise. Member schools brag that UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. and Pacific have reached every NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association women's volleyball tournament since the first in 1981, with Pacific winning national titles in 1985-86. Long Beach State has won three titles, the last in 1998. Last season, two conference schools reached the semifinals. Softball is in the shadow of the Pac-10, but Cal State Fullerton has a 1986 national championship. In fact, 10 of the conference's 17 national championships have been won by women's sports. Allison Cone, Cal Poly's senior associate athletic director, said Northridge, with 16 of its 34 national titles won by women, should fit nicely. |
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