Boys' and Girls' Team Schedules Examined

Exeter’s sports teams have earned highly competitive reputations with dedicated athletes and prestigious programs, but some question whether the Academy supports its players equally. An investigation into athletic scheduling on campus found consistent discrepancies between boys’ and girls’ sports teams.

This winter E/a, the girls’ varsity hockey team had the first game of the day, at Andover at 2 p.m., and the girls’ varsity basketball game started at 6 p.m. However, spectator buses arrived after the girls’ hockey game had started and left before the girls’ basketball game ended.

“We had about eight minutes left in our second half when the spectator buses left,” girls’ varsity basketball player Erin McCann said. “It was a bit disappointing, but I understand that the buses had to get back in time for check in. Sexism could have had something to do with it, but I’m not really sure.”

Girls’ varsity basketball player Eva Carchidi was also frustrated with the turn of events, believing that the Athletics Department should have foreseen the game’s running time and planned accordingly. “It’s pretty typical for high school basketball games to take an hour and a half, especially when it’s E/a,” she said. “If they had cared more, they probably should have scheduled the game earlier or had the buses leave later.”

The scheduling methods for this fall E/a also came into question; some students claimed that girls’ sports were condensed into the middle of the day, while boys’ sports were evenly spread out so that spectators could watch all of them.

Director of Athletics Shane LaPointe attributed the gendered differences in scheduling to Andover’s contrasting scheduling methods. “E/a is its own crazy thing, and what we have learned is that we at Exeter have a very different philosophy [to] our rival,” she said. “They tend to have everything all at the same time, but we try to spread it out throughout the day.”

However, some students saw the situation cynically. “It was unfair how all of the girls’ sports were condensed into the middle, so you could see only one girl’s sport that day, but you could see all of the boys’ sports,” tri-varsity athlete Harriet* said. “It might have happened because of scheduling reasons, but it might have happened because men’s sports are more popular, which is unfortunate.”

LaPointe acknowledged the disparities, questioning the importance of tradition at E/a . “I’ve actually asked to go to Student Council about this. What is our tolerance for tradition? Does the day have to end with football?” she said. “We have so many talented kids who are dedicating hours of their life [to sports]. Is the way the day is set up honoring one group over the others?”

At the same time, she thought that it was important to consider the improvements Exeter has made in scheduling equity in the past few decades. “If you look at the way the program is formatted, it’s very different from the way it looked 10 or 20 years ago,” LaPointe said. “We’re trying to get better.”

However, E/a schedules from earlier years show that the scheduling has not significantly changed. In 1997, girls’ sports had 30-minute blocks between each game, while boys’ soccer occured at 12:00 p.m., with football three and a half hours later. A similarly blocked schedule was planned during 2001.

Lower Keaghan Tierney believes game scheduling impacts the audience that boys’ and girls’ sports games attract. “For hockey, we don’t get as many viewers,” she said. “Boys get fans and we get our parents and super close friends.” Tierney attributed the different turnouts to the fact that girls’ games are scheduled during the afternoon, while boys’ games take place during the evening, when more people are free.

In addition to game scheduling, boys’ and girls’ sports differ in allotted practice times. At Exeter, varsity sports usually take place at the end of the day, during the GH blocks. However, the varsity girls’ basketball and tennis teams practice during EF, while the boys’ varsity basketball and tennis practice during GH.

Varsity basketball player Sally* noted the inconvenience of EF sports. “I really don’t have time to shower and to get to class during unifree. I show up late and gross to class a lot,” she said. “It makes eating kind of difficult too because you don’t want to eat before practice, which isn’t healthy.” Annabel* described the effect rushing back and forth from sports to classes had on her ability to focus in the classroom. “I’m not in the correct mentality after sports,” she said. “If I had classes first and sports last, then I feel like I would be able to concentrate more in my classes.”

Having practice during E and F formats can also be detrimental to athletes’ physical well-being. “If people get injured in practice, and if they have GH class, then they can’t get treatment after practice,” Carchidi said.

According to LaPointe, the girls’ varsity basketball team practices during EF in order to accommodate coaches and negotiate the need to share a venue. “There was a request on the part of a faculty member to have girls’ varsity basketball during EF in order to support him,” she said. “By the time the faculty member understood the impact on the student level, it was too late. We could not move it.”

However, Sally believed that the athletics department would have been more flexible if the boys’ team was in in the same position. “The boys’ sports are definitely taken more seriously, and they like having extra time to practice after H block, too.” One instance of scheduling policies being adjusted for athletic teams occurred this past fall, when some boys’ sports teams were given a GH opt despite their requests contradicting school policy.

In Associate Dean of Multicultural Student Affairs and Girls’ Varsity Basketball Coach Hadley Camilus’ opinion, attributing EF practice to sexism is unfair. “I think this comes down to managing 71 sports, planning for the opening of a new building, and trying to accommodate the broad needs of our students comprehensively,” he said. “Unless there’s a pattern of this sort over time, I think it’s unfair to make that claim.”

Harriet felt differently, saying that the scheduling inequities are indicative of gender-related inequity on campus. “I think this says that people aren’t valuing girls’ sports as much as they should be,” she said. “Every sport should be treated equal, regardless of the sex, or the level, or the success of the team.”

Asterisks denotes name change.