It may be opening day for the Orioles, but I'm still enjoying my recent memories of the first and second rounds of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at College Park. My husband and I had two reasons for attending. First, we are big fans of college sports, primarily our alma maters (the University of Maryland and the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana). It's not very often that you have a chance to attend the early rounds of a national tournament in your own backyard.
But just as important for me is the fact that I played basketball at Maryland for a year in the late 1960s. That I wasn't the only former Terp reliving the experience was evidenced by the number of middle-aged women in red sweatshirts populating the lower reserved section of the Comcast Center. What we saw was a game quite unlike the one we played in pre-Title IX days.
There have been many changes in women's basketball over the past 40 years, of course. I observed two striking differences, however, that have transformed the sport that I participated in as a teenager.
The first is the athleticism of the players. On average, they are not only taller, they are much faster and stronger than my former teammates and I were. Their ability reflects not only hours of practice on the court, but also time spent in the weight room developing the muscles that allow them to drive to the basket, powerfully block shots and sink three-pointers from way downtown. Their commitment goes beyond those after-school and Saturday morning practices we dedicated to the sport in years gone by. For most players today, preparing for game day is a four-season endeavor.
The other notable difference I observed is the style of play in the women's game. In my playing days, we were urged to work for the easy lay-up. Dribbling was discouraged; crisp passing was the rule. The forwards were queens of the court, taking most of the shots; the guards guarded.
Today, the ball is typically brought up the court by an agile guard putting the ball on the floor. The offense is more likely to culminate in a three-point swish than it is in a 5 foot, 9 inch forward using the backboard for an easy two. This change in playing style and strategy reflects how the women's game has evolved over the years to be more like the men's. I applaud this change just as I applaud the parity in funding for women's college sports today. Back in the day, tight budgets meant that the university only provided part of our uniform, a short red kilt that we had to accessorize.
Most exciting for an older player like me is the respect and recognition accorded today's women athletes. It shouldn't have taken four decades for the 25-foot shot that a girl on my Catholic Youth Organization team constantly took to become a staple of competitive players everywhere. But now, for women athletes, the sky's the limit.
Rosemary Faya Prola played basketball for Maryland in 1967-1968, and also played at Mount de Sales Academy and in the Baltimore CYO league in the 1960s. Her e-mail is rfprola@comcast.net.