critical to women’s sports
Education, Training & Research ::world of women sports
by sarah jane clifford
Like all sports, education, training and research play a major role in the world of women sports. One good example is the Tucker Center For Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota. The Tucker Center
The vision and pioneering spirit of Dorothy McNeill Tucker led to the establishment of the Tucker Center in 1993. The creation of an interdisciplinary research center—devoted solely to girls and women in sport—established standards of excellence with respect to scholarly inquiry, graduate education and community outreach and public service. Housed in the College of Education and Human Development’s School of Kinesiology, the Tucker Center is devoted to sponsoring, promoting, and disseminating scholarly activity on how sport impacts the lives of girls and women. As part of her lifelong commitment to bettering the lives of others, Dr. Tucker, a 1945 graduate of the University of Minnesota, also established the Dorothy McNeill and Elbridge Ashcraft Tucker Chair for Women in Exercise Science and Sport. This Chair, made possible with a $1 million gift, was activated in the fall of 1996. The significance of the Tucker Endowed Chair is that it was the first of its kind in the country. The mission of the Tucker Center is threefold: first, to conduct, sponsor, and promote basic and applied research; second, to support and enhance the education, training, and mentorship of graduate students; and finally,
to engage in community outreach and public service by disseminating research findings and educational materials to targeted constituencies. Since its inception, the Tucker Center has provided centralization, organization, scientific excellence, and national leadership on issues of great national and local significance. Through its direction and leadership, it has encouraged researchers, policy makers, educators, parents and practitioners to work together to better the lives of girls and women in ways that go far beyond the playing fields. The Gymnastics Training Center Another example of education, training and research is Rochester’s own Gymnastics Training Center (GTC) founded in 1987. For the last 17 years the GTC has been housed in a fully equipped 22,000 square foot facility at 2051 Fairport Nine Mile Point Road in Penfield. The GTC is currently running gymnastics and cheerleading classes for boys and girls from beginning to highly advanced levels as well as special programs for disabled children. Fit by Five, which presents an outstanding physically based preschool learning experience for toddlers is also offered. The Botsford School of Dance, which provides world-class programs from pre-ballet to advanced levels, is based at the GTC. All this is done at the GTC on a continuous year-round schedule. The enrollment of over 2,000 students participates in learning, training and research projects. If you have information, ideas, comments or suggestions for “World Of Women Sports,” please contact Sarah Jane Clifford at 585/388-8686. Her e-mail is gtc@frontiernet. net. Clifford owns and operates The Gymnastics Training Center of Rochester, Inc., 2051 Fairport Nine Mile Point Rd., Penfield, NY 14526
rochesterWomanMag.com :: september 2011
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