Female Participation in Sports on Campus

Female Participation in Sports on Campus

By Dania Abraham

The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, like St. Augustine’s campus, offers 10 sports that allow students to develop their sporting abilities, as well to improve their physical and mental health. Included in this list are: basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. All of these sports have male and female teams with their distinct coaches, competitions and training schedules. Students who desire to practice said sports competitively can do so with the UWI Blackbirds team whose main colours are black and yellow.

However, the male teams receive the lion’s share of public and financial support despite the measurable success of female athletes who represent the UWI Blackbirds.

This trend is by no means unique to UWI Cave Hill but rather it colours modern and traditional attitudes to recreational and competitive sports. On the recreational front, the campus allows for each faculty, halls of residence and island associations to host a week of activities which usually comprises of a fun sports day or sports competition. In addition to this, the Games Committee usually hosts ‘UWILYMPICS: Chancellor Sports’ in their week of activities. The activities for the various fun sports days typically include races such as ‘lime and spoon’, ‘wheelbarrow’, and a ‘three-legged race’. These events tend to attract both male and female attendees and participants often with the majority of persons present being female. However, in cases when the island associations, halls of residences and faculties host competitions that cater to specific sports, the lack of female participation is glaring.

According to the recently sworn-in Games Committee Chairperson, Dionisio Carey, is that the female student body would like to see more femaledominated sports such as netball and volleyball offered for interassociation, inter-halls and interfaculty competitions. During his tenure, he plans to promote more of these sports in on-campus competitions. Carey also extended this to the exercise fitness program of Zumba to encourage more female participation. For the male-dominated sports such as football, basketball, and cricket, he intends to make provision for women-only teams who would then compete against each other (given that there is enough interest).

The new GCC wants to make sports accessible to all women within the campus’ community at every ability level whether they want to engage in recreational or competitive sports. Despite his willingness to facilitate this, he noted that the vast majority of women who are involved in sports on campus, are those who were involved before they came to UWI and competed with the club and/or national level. Through open dialogue with his women counterparts from the different halls of residence as well as the wider campus community, Carey hopes to conduct some field research to find out how those who had not previously practiced a sport, can be influenced to participate in the various sporting activities hosted on campus throughout the year. Additionally, he hinted at some women-centred incentives to attract the female demographic.

For those young women who have decided to represent the University competitively in one or more of the 10 sports offered, support is limited. Carey underscores this point by stating that “females in sports at Cave Hill haven’t gotten the recognition that they deserve in years.” In terms of public support, the matches of the female UWI Blackbirds are not as well attended as matches played by their male counterparts. Financial support, though, can be more easily regulated to allow for female athletes to benefit. The financial support for female teams or the lack thereof can be seen in the sports gear, sportswear, coaching staff, monetary gains and the like. Therefore, any disparities in financial support for male and female teams can be immediately identified. Thus, it may generate resentment and/ or demotivation in athletes who feel neglected in that aspect. Carey asserts that athletes must be wary that there are external factors that govern the availability of certain resources to teams who represent the university. The GCC nonetheless vows to assist all athletes in that regard where possible.

The sport of cricket has been intricately woven into Barbadian culture and is, in fact, the most popular sport on the island. Consequently, this strong national culture seeped into the University’s culture thus making cricket the most popular sport at UWI Cave Hill Campus. Therefore, the top male cricketers have enjoyed a ‘sort of’ celebrity status on campus. Moreover, events such as the Vice-Chancellor’s Cricket Match and UWI TV interviews, give them further recognition. The same cannot be said for the top women athletes who attend this institution. The women’s teams represent UWI Blackbirds in competitions throughout the school year often producing noteworthy results. For instance, the Women’s Football Team won the 2017 and 2018 Barbados Women’s Premier League. During the latter edition of the competition, they registered 9 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw with a total of 53 goals scored for the team and 6 goals scored against them in 14 matches. One reliable goal-scorer for the team is the captain Ashanee Thompson, who plays in the midfield. She will be leading her team into competition from this month at the annual UWI Games to be held at the UWI Mona Campus.

Other outstanding female performers can be found representing the UWI Blackbirds in netball, hockey, basketball, swimming, and tennis. According to the Barbados Netball Association (BNA), netball is the highest ranked team sport in Barbados and has become the sport of choice for Barbadian women. The Barbadian national team is actually ranked 10th in the world. To foster the development of this sport on campus, the University participates in BNA tournaments from division 1-6. One of the senior members and prolific scorer for the UWI Blackbirds Signa Division One Netball Team is St. Lucian born, Roxanne Snyder, who is in her final year of study at the University. For hockey, heavy-hitters like Ayanna Wilson and D’Jamlia Edwards represent the UWI Blackbirds in competitions such as the Barbadian Hockey Federation (BHF) Indoor Competition and the Hockey Scrimfest. The swimming team also caters to female swimmers who participate at the collegiate level in the annual UWI Games and in local competitions. One swimmer to pay attention to is Barbadian Zabrina Holder, who has represented her country at CARIFTA, CAC, World Championships and Youth Olympics. She has also broken several national swimming records.

UWI Cave Hill Campus has also allowed for women representation in tennis at local competitions. Some of the names on the Blackbirds’ roster are Kiana Marshall and Carissa Rudolfo. The female volleyballers too have been representing the campus well. Their participation, however, is not limited to the domestic sphere, where they participate in the Barbados Volleyball Association (BVA) Junior Knockout Competition, but it has reached the international level. Wherein, a UWI Blackbird, Kendia Brathwaite, received a post-graduate scholarship from the International Olympic Academy and partook in the academy’s 25th International Seminar on Olympic Studies last September in Greece. Another outstanding volleyballer, Tisha Solis of Belize, also plays for the University’s female volleyball team. In addition, she represents her country at the national level and played in the XX Games Committee Table Tennis Tournament and is the 2018 Senior Women’s Table Tennis Champion of Barbados.

Perhaps through open discussions about this issue, female athletes and fans will feel more support and representation on and off campus. The current and first-ever Sports Faculty Guild Representative, Taahir Bulbulia, has pledged his support of more inclusion and recognition of female sports enthusiasts. Together with Bulbulia, the Sports Faculty Representative, Dionisio Carey, the Games Committee Chairperson, and female sports advocate Sherneil Charlery, change might be on the horizon.