The Statement: Lifting the Burden

2B Wednesday, February 19, 2014 // The Statement

THE

list | B

UZZFEED, BUT BETTER

Top 5 Unorthodox sports

Wish the University had more to offer than just its run-of-themill set of varsity sports? It’s time to look outside the maizes and blues, and reach out to some of the more heterodox of athletic events.

1. Slamball

What do you get when you put together four trampolines and a net? That’s right — Slamball! Any One Tree Hill fan would know that Slamball is where dunks are the norm and mid-air flips are expected.

2.

Sheep Racing Well, maybe it’s not a thing in the America’s yet. But Australia’s

got them, and that’s just enough reason to follow. Every October, the Booligal Sheep Races pit the toughest of sheep and riders against one another. Catch me if you can!

3.

Volata In order to distance themselves from the English-roots of

traditional Soccer, Italian Facists combined the rules of Soccer and Handball into a hybrid game, Volata. Using both hands and feet, this ball game has it all.

4.

Quidditch Perhaps Quidditch is more mainstream in today’s time, but

ann arbor affairs: falling in friend-love with you by sundai johnson I moved through those soft, moist bodies with friendly, inebriated smiles that tend to occupy those kinds of spaces, and on the other side, I found him. His eyes were bright when he saw me, and he wrapped me in his arms and I melted there. He began to talk rapidly as he always did and I smiled and nodded and responded as I always did. He led me outside to a group of people who I knew but would never actually know. There was a beer waiting for me in his hand. I took it, sat by the fire and nursed my beer while I watched him and remembered the way we knew each other.

It was the night of my first college party the summer before freshman year. We were walking without a destination as the cool summer night airbrushed our hot, sticky skin that made our hands stick together like Velcro. Finally we came upon a hill in the middle of a neighborhood, and

that doesn’t stop it from being unorthodox. Without the help of Hogwarts and magic though, you can’t help but wonder if there is no point.

5.

Oil Wrestling Slip, slip and slide away! Held each June in Turkey, oil wrestling

is your conventional wrestling — with a little extra added grease.

It’s chilly.

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@thestatementmag COVER BY RUBY WALLAU & AMY MACKENS

THE

statement

Magazine Editor: Carlina Duan Deputy Editors: Max Radwin

Photo Editor: Ruby Wallau Illustrator: Megan Mulholland

Amrutha Sivakumar Editor in Chief: Design Editor: Amy Mackens

Peter Shahin

Managing Editor: Katie Burke Copy Editors: Mark Ossolinski Meaghan Thompson

lay on our backs, claiming our stake.

After long moments of quiet, I like you Sundai rolled over his lips like a melody. I turned toward him — not smiling because he wasn’t — and told him I liked him too. And then he turned toward me, and finally he was smiling, and finally he was kissing me. We were lying under the trees, under the stars, and it was impossible and magical all the same.

What I expected to materialize after that night did not happen. I was angry and sad and hurt and confused

THE

when he wanted to be with other girls instead of me.

Because he’d held my hand and kissed me on a hilltop and told me he liked me. He had this soul that was powerful and captivating and as much as I wanted to walk away and remember him only as a moment in time, I could not. So I set aside all ILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND animosity I had against our shattered romance and sacrificed My beer was still cold in my hand the bitterness I wanted to feel, to as we went inside and danced to have him as a constant in my life. music that made us nostalgic. And as We were more beautiful this way we sat on the couch later that night, than I’d ever imagined we could be. in that house, my head buzzed from The deeper our friendship grew the half of a bad beer and happiness and more I realized that this was how he was dreamy from slight sobriety, things were meant to be. There interrupted by a few puffs of Mary. was a loyalty that existed between For the last time, he leaned over and us that could not have existed had kissed me, more softly and sweetly it been any other way. Not to say than he ever had before. It was just that we weren’t reckless with our once, slowly on the lips, and as he friendship at first. We jeopardized pulled away, just for a flicker of a it often with slurred words and sto- moment, before he became aware of len kisses at late-night after-parties what he had unknowingly revealed before I insisted that I make my way to me. home. We never talked about these I looked into his eyes and I knew moments — either because they felt then that he loved me and would love normal or because it was easier to me as long as forever might possibly believe they were imagined. These be. It was a love that was baffled and moments occurred less frequently heavy. Full of heard words and apoluntil eventually, they ended all ogies that never had to be spoken. together. For a time, the memory of Our friendship, and this love we’d that moment on that hill when time cultivated, was whole and intentionstood still misguided me and led me al and deeply anchored in an almostto believe that we were meant to be. romance that had blossomed out of But our world wasn’t fit to hold that that summer we’d spent covered in kind of love, only the love we had sundust with hills of grass molding created that was and would always to the dips in our backs. solely be ours.

Sundai Johnson is an LSA junior.

rules TMD’

S WEEKLY SURVIVAL GUIDE

No. 540:

No. 541:

No. 542:

A USA v. Russia hockey game is not Cold War 2.0, folks. It’s just the Olympics, and it’s about time we moved on.

A date with your Netflix on Friday night is nothing to be ashamed of. We all needed our Frank Underwood.

Take a lesson from Ellen Page’s book and step up out of your box. Your identity is all you’ve got going for you.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 // The Statement 3B

the thought bubble

“

on the record

“Being a Canadian, I think curling is a great event. But that’s not as popular down here.”

– RED BARENSON, Michigan Hockey coach on the Olympics

“We have a chance here in Michigan to recapture national leadership with the growth of our public universities,” Coleman said. “I firmly believe that states that do not invest in higher education will not win the 21st century, and I want desperately for Michigan to win.”

– MARY SUE COLEMAN, during a speech about the importance of Higher Education this past Thursday

PHOTO BY RUBY WALLAU

“It better be delicious. We’ve waited long enough for it to be good.”

“Tell us a crazy story about traveling abroad.”

“I once tried to buy alcohol in Egypt and I ended up in a minefield and I had to be rescued by Israeli military personnel. Don’t try to buy alcohol in Arabic countries.”

– AMELIA RUNCO, LSA sophomore, on the opening of the new gelato station in East Quad

– EPHRAIM LOVE, ALUM ‘13

The actress, who starred in movies like Juno, Inception and X-Men came out as gay on Valentine’s Day this week at the the Human Rights Campaign’s inaugural Time To THRIVE conference.

trending #TJoshie #JohnHenson #HouseOfCards

USMAGAZINE.COM

Last Saturday, the St. Louis Blues center scored all four of the USA hockey team’s shoot-out goals to beat the Russian hockey team.

ABCNEWS.COM

#Dunnverdict #EllenPage #ChancetheRapper #CraiglistMurderer #StandwithSam

CHICAGOMAG.COM

Campus was buzzing on social media this week when students got word that the 20-year-old rapping phenom was coming to Hill Auditorium in March.

Mizzou students formed a human wall to block the Westboro Bapists Church protest of DE Michael Sam, who came out as gay last week.

Sam’s decision to come out marks the first-ever openly gay college football player.

COLUMBIATRIBUNE.COM

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 // The Statement

Kinesiology senior Kristin Nagle

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

GEN DER EQUA L IT Y I N SPORTS IN HOME STR ETCH

BY Z ACH SH AW

L

SA Senior Shannon Niznik hasn’t brushed her hair in three days. Her face is buried in an LSAT book, and she is studying anonymously in the Business School’s Winter Garden. No one asks to pose for pictures with her; no one asks for her autograph, no one gawks, points or even gives a second glance as they walk by.

In today’s age, the sighting of a high-profile male athlete can be compared to seeing a movie star in person. Even if they aren’t recognized immediately, the University of Michigan athletic apparel and the infamous blue backpack are enough to garner at least a few hushed loks.

But for Niznik, she only causes a stir on game days, when — as a senior member of the Michigan cheerleading team —she is asked to pose for pictures with kids, students and husbands.

“On game days we’re always posing for photos, holding babies and talking to people,” Niznik said. “Cheerleaders are well known for the uniform that we’re wearing, but people don’t know a thing about us. Only until recently on the website I was just Shannon the cheer-

TITLE IX TIME LINE

1898

leader. They don’t even realize we exist outside of the uniform and pom poms, it’s an identityless entity.”

Such is life for many female athletes. Even in the modern era, female athletes sometimes lack the recognition and — in many cases, respect — that male athletes receive.

Across the nation, every Division I school has roughly the same scholarships for men and women, facilities are equitable nationwide, and women are given ample opportunity to compete for their teams, just like men.

But the problem of gender equality in sports remains unsolved. More than four decades after Title IX, the push for gender equality in sports has reached what may be the difficult final stretch.

A legal history When Title IX of the Education Amendment Act was passed in 1972, the future of college sports was merely an afterthought. The act was put into place to ensure that the quality of edu-

Michigan female freshmen play against female sophomores in basketball, winner plays EMU in first UM women’s intercollegiate game

1960 Joan Spillane becomes first female Gold medalist, taking part in two swimming relays

cation in America was equal for both males and females. Doors opened for female faculty and administrators; standardized tests were monitored and altered to fairly assess to both genders equally; arts, music and theater programs were designed to balance male and female participation and involvement.

But as the years wore on, it became clear that athletics would be the biggest but most controversial change under the law. In the late 1970s, female athletes began to file lawsuits, claiming athletic departments weren’t taking the law seriously. The 1980s saw progress, but according to Michigan Softball Coach Carol Hutchins — who was hired as an assistant in 1983 before taking over as head coach two years later — the movement was far from desired equality.

“We were just a cut above intramural sports,” Hutchins said. “Title IX passed in ’72, but it wasn’t being well received when I arrived. Athletic departments recognized they had a federal court case on their hands if they didn’t comply, so schools had women’s sports, but they weren’t being supported real well.”

Michigan introduces 6 varsity sports (tennis, basketball, swimming and diving, synchronized swimming, volleyball, and field hockey

1974

she said.

Despite offering a women’s gym class and even introducing a women’s basketball team that played against Eastern Michigan in 1898, the University didn’t offer varsity sports until they lawfully had to, and didn’t comply with Title IX’s mandate on scholarships until 1989.

Equal focus on male and female sports at the University wasn’t given until the ruling of the 1992 Supreme Court case, Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, which ruled punitive damages should be awarded to those who suffered when Title IX is intentionally avoided. It was then, Hutchins said, that women’s sports finally had the attention of the University Athletic Department.

“Out of those 40 years (of Title IX), the first 20 we weren’t playing for championships, we were playing because we had to have a team out there,” Hutchins said. “We never started a practice before 8 o’clock in the middle of the winter because we had to let all the men’s sports go before us. They were fully funded; we were on shoe strings. Around the mid-90s we were taken more seriously, and now we’re seeing women’s sports looked at based on their success on the field just like the men are.”

Today, the effects of Title IX can be seen all over the sports world, and Ann Arbor is no exception. Nearly a million viewers watched Hutchins’ softball team fall to Washington in last year’s Women’s College World Series.

Michigan currently boasts 14 varsity women’s sports, one more than men’s varsity sports teams, and the University complies with Title IX on every documentable level.

Women’s participation in sports is at an alltime high, but according to Sport Management Prof. Ketra Armstrong, an associate dean of kinesiology, compliance with the law is only the first step toward equality.

“Title IX has caused female athletes to have greater participation and more empowerment in sports,” Armstrong said. “But there were unintended (bad) consequences. The whole idea was to provide equality, but what came with Title IX was a decline in female coaches and administrators.”

Armstrong noted that before Title IX, women held the majority of administrative positions in women’s sports. Yet after Title IX, the number of women’s coaches for women’s teams dwindled to 43 percent.

Though Armstrong’s numbers are based off national research, the University follows trend in terms of the declining numbers of female administrators. Three decades ago, the year before Hutchins took over as Head Coach, nine of the 10 women’s varsity sports were coached by women. Today, seven of 14 women’s varsity

1981 Women’s athletics being competing in the Big Ten

Michigan has equal number of male and female scholarships

1989

coaches are male.

Armstrong, who has played, coached and researched at a Division I level in addition to working with the NCAA and Olympics to promote social justice and gender equality, feels that the administrative loophole has prevented athletics from reaching true gender equality 42 years after Title IX passed.

“We aren’t seeing the same parallel improvements across the board in women’s athletics, even today,” Armstrong said. “The number of females in managerial roles today is disheartening, because that’s where the effective change stems from.”

Women on the field On the field itself, female athletes still face an uphill battle gaining the same respect as males. According to Armstrong, the atmosphere of apathy or hospitality stems from centuries of societal norms.

“Sport has always been perceived as a male domain,” Armstrong said. “Sport was the way in which men practiced masculinity, it was a rite of passage. Due to this, women have always been perceived as invaders, and that’s made it hard for them to really earn the same level of respect.”

Despite the societal prejudice, science might be the biggest obstacle. According to Michael Messner, author of “Power at Play: Sports, and the problem of masculinity,” the average adult male is 5 inches taller than the average female, and is comprised of 40 percent muscle and 15 percent fat, while females are have about 23 percent muscle and 25 percent fat. This equates to greater buoyancy in water, skeletal structure, better balance and superior flexibility. Due to these bodily differences, girls tend to participate in higher numbers in synchronized swimming, gymnastics, cheerleading and other “softer” sports.

“Some sports have become gendered as feminine,” Armstrong said. “They’re non-contact and allow women to look girly. It’s a sex-role conflict by virtue of the female identity, and we see girls being funneled into these sports more often.”

Among those funneled into the “female” sports is Kinesiology senior Kristin Nagle.

Since the age of two, Nagle has done gymnastics, eventually earning a spot on Michigan’s team. A self-professed tomboy, Nagle struggled fitting in for as long as she can remember.

“I always tried to adapt and form to what women should be,” Nagle said. “Hair, makeup, earrings, looking back it’s kind of sad, it wasn’t me. I was just trying to fit society’s mold and fit in with my sport, it wasn’t who I am.”

2001

1993 Female atheletes are finally rewarded same size varsity letter as men

”

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This concept of societal pressure is what Armstrong refers to as “cognitive dissonance.”

The idea is that to avoid being perceived as too masculine, female athletes accentuate femininity. From fashion to speech patterns, even the most masculine women try to assume the same identity as everyone else.

After leaving the gymnastics team to join the Olympic weightlifting club last year, Nagle found that the shame of being masculine only increased. She carried the identity normally reserved for men everyday, and only when she accepted it herself did the heavy load lighten.

“When I told people I did weightlifting, I wasn’t OK with it myself,” Nagle said.

“I thought it was very manly, and something felt wrong about it. I think women have to be stronger, find their own strength inside them. We’re trained by society that men are athletic and women are not. It takes a female to be ok with it herself first. It sucks; it’s not cool, not fun.”

Wednesday, February 9, 2014 // The Statement

remember thinking ‘I don’t know who these people are or what they did, and I’m creeped out because I’m half-naked in a bank.’”

The role of cheerleaders is different than any other sport — male or female — on campus. The team must simultaneously train to defend their National Championship and represent the face of the University.

“Everyone knows the uniforms and what cheerleaders are,” Niznik said. “So when the University needs a stand-in or wants to make their presence known they just send us, because we have pretty faces and shiny pom

People are viewing women’s athletics

a heck of a lot better than they were

society is still evolving, but we always

have to vigilant for equality. By the next

A changing role

generation, we’ll be pretty close.

Shannon Niznik just wanted to practice.

As a member of the Michigan Cheerleading team, she was taking part in August practices, in which the team was preparing for both the football season and to defend their 2013 National Championship. As the first half of the 12-hour practice wound down and a lunch break was set to begin, the team was given an assignment several days before its first class.

“This bank gave Michigan a donation, and they were having a party,” Niznik said. “So we all had to stop practice and go to a bank on Main Street and clap for them as they walked out of a meeting.”

Without any time for questions, concerns or even background as to whom the people were or what they did, the team quickly got ready for the impromptu performance. As the bank staffers walked out of their early afternoon meeting they were greeted by the same maize and blue pom poms that have greeted the nation’s winningest football team for decades.

“Of course they were all loving it because we’re half-naked in our crop-tops with all these old executives walking in,” Niznik said. “I just

Field Hockey team wins first women’s team National Championship

Women’s lacrosse begins competition as Michigan’s 14th varsity sport, tied for third most in the nation

ley pointed out in 1993, male athletes don’t have to be role models. The success of male sports continues to grow, and society will go on if Barkley or other male athletes fail to live up to moral or societal standards. But today, women don’t have that luxury.

“They have to be good citizens,” Hutchins said. “They have to be good students and represent the University as ambassadors. (Softball player) Sara Driesenga had to walk out of the locker room door after pitching a loss and giving up the winning hit and still be on her A-game for the kids. It’s important to recognize that all these little girls look up to you and want to be you.”

Fair play: The future movement Throughout history, sports have paved the road for change in society. From uniting social and economic classes to breaking down racial barriers, equality on the field has often been achieved first, with society following suit.

If Title IX were a living woman, she’d be middle-aged. At 42, the law enforcing gender equality between federally-funded activities has begun to do just that.

But the law can only control so much. The way women’s athletics are perceived is far from equal to men’s. From January 2000 to June 2011, Sports Illustrated featured women on just 35 of their covers — roughly 4.9 percent of 716 published issues.

According to Armstrong and Hutchins, this pattern won’t last long. The two figures who have overseen the development of women’s sports feel the recent focus on women’s sports has had an impact on the young adults of today, and believe it won’t be long before today’s youth will lead society to a state of complete equality. “(Women’s sports) are still evolving,” Hutchins said. “My father’s generation couldn’t even fathom gender equality, but it’s generational. People are viewing women’s athletics a heck of a lot better than they were 10, 20 years ago. It’s evolving, just like society is still evolving, but we always have to be vigilant for equality. By the next generation, we’ll be pretty close.”

A look inside Armstrong’s “Gender and Sport” class proves Hutchins’ point. As the sun crept over the horizon at 8:30 a.m., students slowly filed in. Once the class began, students engaged in lively discussions, ranging in topic from the caliber of the NBA All-Star game to locker room culture to Sheryl Swoope’s sexuality conflict and the media’s portrayal of lesbian athletes. But throughout the class, the thread of hope remained clear.

“This generation gets it,” Armstrong said.

“When I teach my classes, my students are phenomenal. Hope is on the horizon. This generation embraces the social justice concept and has the belief that gender equality is something society needs, that life should be fair and rules are there to promote fair play.”

Laws are put into place to lay the foundation for change. They can’t dictate the reaction, perception or acceptance of those affected by the law. Title IX has pushed women’s sports from an afterthought to an obligation to an opportunity. Now, the burden is on those involved in the sports world to ensure women’s athletics garner equal recognition and respect as men’s sports.

”

10, 20 years ago. It’s evolving, just like

poms and really stick out.”

While cheerleaders can be the face of the University, other women’s sports find themselves with the added burden of being an inspiration as well.

In the early days of the Title IX era, the role of women’s sports in college was simply to fill scholarships. Today, women’s sports still fail to generate enough revenue to support themselves, but the role female athletes play has changed.

“Women’s athletics has always been a place to show what women can accomplish in society,” Armstrong said. “Sports has been a leader in empowering women, and today many girls even in areas other than sports are inspired by athletes, but because the athletes are successful in a visible way.

“It’s not about what they do in sport, but how they navigate the gendered terrain. By doing well in sports, female coaches and athletes can show what women can do in other male-dominated areas, and that can have a tremendous impact on society,” she said.

In her 29 seasons as head coach of the Michigan softball team, Hutchins has never had a losing season. Unsurprisingly, the Michigan softball team has more Twitter followers and 2014 receives more media coverage than the baseball team. Yet of all the accomplishments her teams have had over the years, Hutchins knows the biggest one is inspiring female leaders of the future.

As NBA hall-of-famer Charles Bark-

5B

6B

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 // The Statement

Emerging from the shadows: LGBT life in the locker room

by Jake Lourim

In 2005, Stephanie Hoyer came east from Englewood, Colo., to one of the biggest college athletic programs in the country. She practiced field hockey in the shadows of Michigan Stadium, and in world-class facilities named after legends like Schembechler and Yost and Crisler and Oosterbaan.

Hoyer had a strong freshman season. She scored six goals, added three assists. She netted a game-winner early in the season, then later scored in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

But that season was nothing compared to what she would do the following year. The next fall, she told her teammates the biggest secret of her life — she was bisexual.

In 2005, in a culture steeped in the uncertainty about how to handle lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people — let alone athletes — Hoyer was met with open arms.

Playing on the same campus as future Olympians, Hoyer had a fine situation on the surface. Her life or someone else’s could be very different right now had it not been for the compassion she found inside the hallowed halls of the University Athletic Department.

But to understand how we got here today, and how Hoyer succeeded at Michigan eight years ago, you must first understand a story from a similar, yet entirely different college town and through a sprinter named Paul Farber.

Paul Farber came to the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 among a class of about 20 track athletes seeking an Ivy League education, athletic success and an experience among the world’s brightest people.

Instead, when he stepped on the track early during his freshman season, one of the first words he heard was a derogatory gay slur. Farber is gay.

Inside, this environment ate at Farber. He felt depressed and worn down, physically and mentally. It was his worst academic semester yet. At one point, he tried his coach for advice.

But even his coach showed him apathy. He told him that in his time coaching at Penn, two athletes had come out and fit in well with the team. Another, however, ended up getting in a fight and had to leave the team. “So make sure you make the right decision,” Farber recalled his coach, Charlie Powell, telling him.

The decision, when it came down to it, was between being an athlete and being himself — which, in the end, wasn’t much of a choice at all.

Farber chose himself, quitting the team his freshman year. The following year, in an attempt to create a more welcoming environment for gay athletes than the one he encountered, he helped establish Penn Athletes and Allies Tackling Homophobia. Its goal was to confront what he saw as the taboo of homophobia in athletic culture.

Four years later, Farber’s story and Michigan’s intersected. Working toward a PhD. in American Culture at Michigan, Farber became a GSI for Professor John U. Bacon’s class on the

history of college athletics.

Farber skimmed the list of topics in Bacon’s class and noticed that many examined sports as an avenue for realizing social change, but homosexuality in athletics was never discussed in class. So he started the discussion — or, rather, he brought it out in the open.

“This is an issue that cannot be managed with silence,” Farber said. “It’s been on the back of student-athletes and willing administrators to carry forward the conversation.”

To carry on the conversation at the University, Farber established the Michigan Athletes and Allies Partnership. Similar to PATH, MAAP created a space for athletes and allies.

Hoyer was a key member. So was former gymnast Evan Heiter, who graduated in 2011.

Along with other athletes and allies, the two helped Farber start the alliance in 2008.

And the culture they helped build at the University was very different than the one Farber encountered in Phila- delphia 12 years ago.

In 2007, Heiter started as a gymnast at the University. Did he feel pressure? Yes. Surrounded by athletes who pushed him to be his best, he constantly felt motivated.

Did he occasionally have trouble finding himself? Yes. But so would any 19-year-old from the Ann Arbor area going out on his own.

The atmosphere in which Heiter competed early on was not just open to gay athletes — it was even more accepting, he found, than his own family. He came out to his teammates before he told his family.

He came out early in his career to a group of

teammates, several of whom were gay themselves, either open or closeted. When he did, he found that nothing changed.

“The people who looked back at me after I came out to them, I just knew that nothing had changed,” Heiter said. “It changed nothing for them. They still saw me as exactly the same person.”

Last week, former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam, who is projected as an NFL Draft pick, came out publicly. If selected in May (a near certainty for the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year), Sam would become the first openly gay NFL player in a sport known for its masculine lockerroom culture.

Starting Sunday, Sam will compete at the NFL Combine, where NFL teams will scout him before the upcoming draft.

He will be judged for his speed, his hands, his strength, his personality and now, perhaps, his sexuality.

Sam put a lot of money on the line by coming out when he did. Heiter and Hoyer said they look forward to the moment when a player like Sam’s news isn’t the news story it has become — but for now, they’re happy to watch it unfold.

“I think where we are right now, it needs to be a spectacle,” Hoyer said. “The attention is necessary. There’s been so ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily much hurt and pain caused and suffered for years, for gay people and straight people.”

Heiter and Hoyer agreed that everyone has his or her own journey and that everyone is ready to come out at different times.

But both of them anticipate the time when everyone is ready at some point — no matter how many Michael Sams it takes to get there.

When a former softball player, who asked not to be identified by name because she is not openly gay to everyone, came to Michigan in 2008, she found an atmosphere in which homosexuality was a “you-didn’t-talk-about-it thing.”

But the culture changed substantially over the player’s four-year career. She told herself she would be herself at college, and as her teammates got to know her, that was OK. “By my senior year, it was just part of who you are,” she said. “You don’t need to say it if you don’t want to. We just went along with our

daily lives because it didn’t affect anything for us.”

When it stopped affecting things, the player enjoyed her experience at the University. The true moment of peace for her came before her sophomore season, when she was unsure of how incoming freshmen would respond to her sexuality.

“We’ve got your back,” the senior players told her. “We’re not going to let anyone say anything. We’ll take care of you.”

When the player came to Michigan, MAAP was already established. For her, it was more than just a place to go — it was an organization that carried her through her college experience and helped her accept who she was.

When she had early college problems, the group helped her. When she needed a group to hang out with, the group gave her that too.

Hiding the secret, though, doesn’t always pose a problem. These athletic teams often become players’ families. In fact, Hoyer, Heiter and the softball player each told their teams before they told their families. The team proceeded normally from there.

Bacon, who spent significant time around the Michigan Athletic Department while working on his 2013 book “Fourth and Long,” said that reaction coincides with what he saw.

“What was acceptable 10 years ago probably isn’t now,” Bacon said. “I didn’t have too much doubt that guys I was around there for three years would accept a gay teammate.”

Sam came out to his team in August.

Because he was openly gay, coaches, support staff and even some reporters knew he was gay. According to Yahoo Sports, the Missouri student newspaper knew Sam was gay before last weekend. A reporter arranged an interview with him about it, and when he cancelled, the newspaper didn’t run the story.

In each of these cases, the people around the athletes haven’t hidden the secret because they are avoiding the issue or because they don’t want to create conflict. They have hidden it because it’s not their secret to share.

Think back to Paul Farber. Remember that not all coming-out stories are like Hoyer’s or Heiter’s. Remember that this issue is not resolved.

Ten years ago, Farber told his coach the most intimate secret of his life and was met with apathy. Five years ago, a Michigan softball player came into an environment in which homosexuality wasn’t discussed. Ten days ago, a college football player told the world he was gay, risking his future in the process, doubters be darned.

There will be a day when an athlete like Michael Sam tells people he or she is gay and no one bats an eye. This day might not be tomorrow, or the next day. It might take more Evan Heiters and Stephanie Hoyers and Paul Farbers to get there. But once it comes, they and the thousands of other people who have helped make it happen will watch and smile.

To see the full version, go to michigandaily.com

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 // The Statement

7B

Personal Statement: Party’s over, now what?

by Katie Steen

ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND

I remember the day I first moved to Ann Arbor. It was a very typical, almost archetypal University of Michigan “freshman” experience.

I remember moving into South Quad as a timid (but eager to “break out of my shell!”)

Honors freshman and being bombarded by a neat arrangement of new friends, thanks to my Move-In Maker roommate. Before I had time to unpack my posters of indie bands and boxes of string lights (because that’s how people decorate their dorms, right?), I was whisked off to the cafeteria — that social jungle of sterile surfaces and outdated wall decorations — where I engorged myself on a tray of tofu and chickpeas. I was going to “try out” vegetarianism in college.

The conversation at the table was fastpaced and brutal, but I managed to stay afloat. Soon after, we ran off to play a game of pick-up soccer at Elbel Field like the energetic, fun-loving freshmen Wolverines we were learning to be. During the game, I got stomach cramps from all the chickpeas and thought about the boyfriend I had just broken up with (because that’s just the inevitable course of events when a couple goes to different colleges, right?). Later that night I called him, saying I missed him, of course.

After getting bubble tea and devouring free samples from Jimmy John’s minions scattered around campus — all the while proclaiming numerously how we couldn’t “wait to explore Ann Arbor!” — the focus of the conversation quickly shifted to parties. We shared with one another the catalogue of parties we had been invited to on Facebook at the various frats we had minimal-to-no connection to. “G.I. Joes and Army Hoes could be fun … ” “High-lighter

party! Oh, but you need a wristband to get in ...” “What’s a foam party?” We eventually settled on a “Blackout Party,” and scrolled through the Facebook event.

“Wear white,” the event page read.

Thinking nothing of this incongruous instruction, we obliged, and headed out the doors of South Quad in the shape of a 20-deep crew of freshmen all wearing white t-shirts. We looked ridiculous, but at least we had a “good ratio.”

We wandered through a block party on the way over, and realized almost immediately the grave mistake we had made. Of course the party was a cruel joke. Of course we were instantly recognized in the crowd.

Of course we endured endless jeers of “Freeeeeeeshmaaaaaaan” from congested porches. Of course we attempted to laugh it off and party on like normal. But after several unsuccessful and uncomfortable attempts to get to the keg, we resolved to give up — at least for that night.

We began our trek back to South Quad — carrying our white shirts like truce flags and our solo cups as red as blood spilled on a battle field. (On our way down Hill Street, a benevolent upperclassman advised us to throw out our empty solo cups in order to avoid the “Minor in Possession” experience. Thank you, whoever you were).

We were clueless, and while I can’t say that night was fun, I look fondly upon my failed attempt at partying my first night of college. And while I can’t say that I’m still friends with all 20 of those people or even that I would even recognize some of them should I pass them on State Street, I did make a few friends — best friends, actually — several of whom now share the same co-op with me.

I’ve had what I consider to be a fulfilling

three-and-a-half years at Michigan so far, but I can feel things beginning to change.

Now, instead of staying up for 6 a.m. sunrises and Hippie Hash with friends, I wake up at 6 a.m. — to go student teach at a high school. Instead of gorging myself during “lazy breakfasts” of never-ending dorm pancakes with chocolate milk on the side, I inhale five-minute breakfasts of offbrand cereal and rush out the door toting a half-full coffee thermos with an “American Express Brokerage” ad on the side. Instead of wearing overpriced jeans from Delia’s with names like “Jayden” and “Olivia,” I slip into overpriced “professional” pants from Express with names like “Editor” and “Columnist.” Now, I have button-downs, cardigans and a semi-complete LinkedIn profile. Now, as I make sure I can graduate in May, I hear echoes of “Just take whatever interests you!” from Honors peer advisors, and think, “Fuck you.”

Over this past Winter Break, I visited a newly-graduated friend’s apartment in Hamtramck, Mich. I sat in a sparsely decorated living room as the conversation somehow morphed into a bleak synopsis of what life is like after college. In a span of 20 minutes, we discussed the pull of graduate school, a “not bad” day job at Qdoba, announcements of wedding engagements on Facebook, tweets from some guy at that one party, how unwalkable Detroit is, the evolution and inevitable falling-out of certain friendships and the night we first became friends after an excess of peppermint schnapps.

Toward the end of our talk, my friend had said something like, “I don’t know anyone who is enjoying their first year of life after college right now.”

Last year at this time, I couldn’t wait to

get the hell out of Ann Arbor. I had had it with the Saturday football crowds, the same, incestuous groups of people at every party, the rotating choice between studying at “Ambrosia or Espresso?” (NEITHER!), the unquestionable praise of Zingerman’s and TEDx and the Farmers Market, the Timberland boots of South Campus and the leather backpacks of Kerrytown, the Arbor Vitae shows I don’t really care about, the overzealous rush to reserve seats for Restaurant Week and the impending culinary takeover of the whole goddamn city by Sava herself. Needless to say, A-squared felt exponentially smaller every time I walked to and from the Diag.

But now this claustrophobia has turned into coziness, and I’m going to have to fly the coop (er, co-op) soon. Waking up before sunrise every day and not seeing my friends until I’m back home from teaching is a gradual dip into the reality of a working post-grad life, and I can’t help but feel a peculiar sense of loneliness around alarm number four that goes off in the morning, when I finally force myself out of bed and shiver over to the shower. I know I still have friends and parties and bullshit for now, but I understand that soon these will be replaced by acquaintances from work, with whom I will “get drinks” with at bars on the weekend.

I know I should be worrying about getting a job and making money while also contributing to the world in a positive and influential manner. I know I’ve changed and matured in many ways, and have a stronger grasp on who I am and what I want to do with my life (ish). But part of me feels like I’m still the clueless freshman who just wants to have friends and a sense of belonging — and maybe even have a party to go to.

8B

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 // The Statement

T H E V I S U A L S TAT E M E N T: R E L E N T L E S S R O W I N G

School of Kinesiology sophomore Emma Burke works out on the indoor rowing machines.

School of Kinesiology sophomore Emma Burke rinses down the boats’ blades after a practice in Tampa, FL during a spring break training trip.

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LSA sophomore Madeline Shields cools down from a row on the water during a training trip in Florida.

LSA sophomore Nora Shepard recovers from blisters received from twice a day practices.

e’re not Denard Robinson or Mitch McGary. There’s no chance of being recognized in class, and if we happened to wear a Michigan Rowing shirt the typical response is, “Oh, I know someone that was on the rowing team,” or, “That’s a varsity sport?”

A Division I athlete was a label I never planned to have in college after turning down offers from track and field teams at smaller schools. I didn’t even know that rowing was a college sport until a few months before trying out. That didn’t make me any less defensive of the sport to which I had never expected to dedicate my heart, soul and time.

Believe it or not, rowing is really difficult. The team has a huge turnover of athletes every year, and there’s a reason for that. As 160 freshmen quickly discover, waking up at 7 a.m. for classes, heading to practice at 3 p.m., returning to do homework after 9 p.m. and then

attempting to get to bed at a decent time in order to wake up the next day and do it all over again is no easy task. But the 18 freshmen who stick it out to the end are rewarded as the few, the proud, the Big Ten Champions.

As Michigan athletes, we are expected to be relentless at every practice, straining our bodies every day to our physical limits in order to make our team faster and stronger. The individual goals we meet and the glorious triumphs we earn with our teammates make these exertions worth it. Still, the amount we work outside of the competition context is what truly measures our dedication. What defines a student-athlete is how she functions in her other passions and relationships, while still being able to get into the athletic mindset of kicking ass. It often seems that there’s no personal choice — it’s all about the team, the team, the team.

But that’s the choice athletes make.

PHOTOS BY LUNA ARCHERY