SPORTS
Oct
20 2011
STRIKING
THE
BALANCE by MATT TESMOND Staff Writer
G
reek life and varsity sports share many core goals: building a sense of family, working together to accomplish goals and, above all, having fun. So it is not surprising to find at Whitman a thriving culture of Greek athletes. Athletes’ participation in Greek life, however, spans the spectrum from a positive relationship to a disruptive engagement. For many, the combination of Greek life and athletics is a great thing.
team as its own Greek organization still resonates with upperclassmen,” said Roehrig about past negative pressure on Greek life involvement. Roehrig believes that this pressure has gradually been lessened in recent years so that Greek life participation is now widely accepted on the swim team. The Greek system does more for athletes than provide a place to get involved. It provides an important source of emotional diffusion for athletes. “The Greek system helps
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Examining Greek life in Whitman athletics
“Soccer guys are TKE, baseball guys are Sigs. Beta has some soccer guys, Phi is swimming and tennis players,” said first-year Beta pledge and swimmer Yohan Mahoney. “In my experience athletic stereotypes aren’t as prevalent in Whitman sororities [as in fraternities],” said first-year Aliza Whalen. The idea of the sports team
and games always top her list. “Sports have priority over Greek life for sure,” she said. Although this seems the standard for those who participate in both Greek life and varsity
ber David Fleming recounted. There have been many rumors about Holowaty threatening playing time if team members are involved in Greek life; however, true or not, these allegations are not reflected in the high percentage of the team that is Greek. In a recent survey of varsity athletes, only two percent of athletes reported that their coach had an influence in their decision whether or not to go Greek. “Although he has his reasons, I think it is a negative thing. It makes issues surrounding Greek life a touchy subject [on the team],” said
ILLUSTRATION BY PETERSON
Whitman sports survey results
In a recent survey of 86 varsity athletes at Whitman, 50 percent of respondents were involved in Greek life. Members of each varsity sport and each graduating class were represented in responses to questions about Greek life and their athletic experience. Twenty-five percent of surveyed athletes reported that they feel there is a precedent on their team to join Greek life; only two percent considered their coach to have been a factor in this decision.
Whitman athlete profile: IM, club athlete Jeff Gayle
athletics, the balancing act can still prove troublesome. “The balance is the hardest thing to deal with but it’s something that is manageable if dealt with correctly,” said Cohen. “With so many activities going on for both baseball and Greek life, it’s hard to walk the line which balances both of them evenly . . . I feel that every kid I have seen join a fraternity from our team has the ability to come up with a good working balance.” The issue of Greek life has been a particularly interesting subject in the baseball team. The negativity about the Greek system seems not to come from the players, but rather from the head coach. “[Head Coach Jared Holowaty] straight up told us he didn’t like the Greek system,” former baseball player and TKE mem-
Varsity athletes report on Greek life dynamics This week, we asked varsity athletes how they viewed the relationship between sports and Greek life.
Greek members are definitely a minority on our team and sometimes there is tension between the Greek and nonaffiliated members about being Greek. Greek affiliated ’14
It’s just something else that we can do.
Greek affiliated ’14
Jeff Gayle ‘12 jumped into intramural and club sports when he arrived at Whitman. An economics/rhetoric and media studies double major, Gayle is currently a head on Whitman’s IM committee and social chair of the club volleyball team. Photo by Parrish
by MOLLY OLMSTED Contributing Reporter
W
earing sweats from head to toe, Jeff relaxes on one of the couches in the basement of Reid with a calm countenance, holding his lunch in one hand. Profile: Jeff Gayle Class: Senior Major: Rhetoric and media studies/economics double major Hometown: Woodinville, Wash. What brought you to Whitman? When I was looking at schools, I was looking at small liberal arts schools kind of off West Coast I-5: so, like, Willamette, Lewis & Clark, Santa Clara, those type of schools. And this is the best place [smiles]. I went to
Willamette and it was dark and cloudy in the middle of summer, and I came here a couple times, ‘cause it’s just a quick drive, and every time it was just really sunny and nice. It’s a very cool place. What sports do you play? I play club Ultimate Frisbee [and] men’s club volleyball, which I’m a social chair for. I’m a head on the IM Committee, which organizes all the intramural sports throughout the year. I play pretty much as many intramural sports as I can which includes football, soccer, dodgeball, volleyball and softball. Is it hard to balance all of those sports? It is right now because I just started Frisbee last year and I have to do my thesis this semester. So that’s cutting into a lot of my
time. But, you know, I’m finding a way: lack of sleep [laughs]. Do you have a favorite out of the sports you play? I like IM football and IM soccer. I played soccer through high school so that’s that, but Frisbee and volleyball are, like, my two favorites. What do you want to do after Whitman? Do you know? Not really, no. I’ve got to figure that out. Would you want to do anything sports-related? Yeah, definitely. Maybe marketing. Related to one of the sports you play? Probably one of the sports, like soccer. Soccer or baseball.
Fleming. “Coach’s view didn’t have too much effect on my decision and many guys in my class’s decision to go Greek, but it had some influence over this year’s [first-year] class.” Fleming believes Holowaty’s sentiments are not meant to be negative, but are rather a product of his own experiences with fraternities on the East Coast. “I don’t think he is fully aware of what Whitman fraternities are like. Guys are here to play baseball,” Fleming concluded. With the re-introduction of a fourth sorority at Whitman this year due to steadily increasing interest, involvement in Greek life is a growing trend at Whitman College, and is increasingly a choice made more by individuals than by team pressure.
Responses from an anonymous poll of Whitman varsity athletes
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“I think [involvement in Greek life] speaks to the quality of the people. They want to be involved in a lot of aspects of campus,” said junior swimmer Andrew Roehrig, a member of Phi Delta Theta. The swim team is one of the teams that has seen a large growth of Greek life participants over the last two years. “A few people have strong opinions, and the idea of the swim
team morale. It’s nice to have a support system to rely on outside of basketball,” said junior women’s basketball player and Delta Gamma member Mary Madden about the benefits of Greek life. Sophomore baseball player and Sigma Chi member Aaron Cohen agreed. “A lot of the guys like to be involved with people that we normally wouldn’t. We spend a lot of time together on the field and it’s always nice to get a break every once in a while,” he said. There are certain varsity teams which have large groups of members of a certain fraternity. This trend has led to the fraternities being stereotyped by sport.
serving a function similar to a Greek organization is still present, but dissipating as more players join Greek life. The women’s tennis team underwent such a transformation in Greek life participants just in the last year. Senior independent tennis player Emily Rolston has seen the change firsthand. “Earlier in my career the team consensus was that the tennis team played the role of a sorority. I think this has changed— as a freshman there was maybe one sorority member and now there are five, maybe six,” said Rolston. Rolston does not believe this change has affected the team in any way, positive or negative. Balancing sports and Greek life is not always an easy task and sometimes creates tension between individuals and teams. When asked which took precedence, Madden said practice time
My sorority is really supportive of me being involved in athletics. I usually miss a lot of activities and they are really understanding. Greek affiliated '14
It’s a personal choice that doesn’t affect your team. Unaffliliated '12
Everyone on the team knows that team always comes first, so it’s usually not a problem. Unaffiliated ‘13
I would say the perception of Greek life on my team is more on the negative side. People are also indifferent, but those who dislike the Greek system seem to be the loudest. Greek affiliated ’12
[Greek life] adds a social dimension that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Sometimes it’s nice to hang out with people outside of your team, since most of your time is spent with that group of people. Greek affiliated ’12