Girls’ Tennis Reports Unfair Treatment

For the past few years, Girls’ Varsity and Junior Varsity Tennis have been scheduled during E/F blocks, while the boys’ teams are scheduled for G/H. Amidst mounting criticism, Director of Athletics David Hudson cited staff scheduling as the driving consideration for the disparity in scheduling.     

The girls’ team has been requesting a rotation of the G/H blocks for the past two years, but was told by the Athletic Department that they missed the deadline both times. While some girls’ team members acknowledge programming difficulties in light of scheduling concerns and a Varsity B coach redelegated to the boys’ team, others—upper and manager Isabel Hou included—feel that the treatment of the girls’ team is “blatantly unfair.”

Lower Emily Baxter questioned whether bias might have a role in these decisions. “I think it is unfair how they prioritize the boys,” Baxter said. “I would consider it sexism.”

Senior Reina Matsumoto explained why G/H sports are preferable, saying, “G/H sports are fairly sought after, but it especially makes a difference in the spring for tennis, where we’re playing at the hottest time of the day and the sun is directly overhead.” Matsumoto also pointed out that the sun’s positioning during E/F formats makes serving more difficult because the ball is harder to see.

During E/F, facilities used by Girls’ Tennis are also occupied by track and field. Prep Cecilia Treadwell, a member of the girls’ tennis team added, “The problem is that … time and place conflicts with track and field, especially when it is raining outside … Boys get to play G/H, which ensures them to not have a conflict with any other sports.”

Hudson noted that, as this is his first year in the role of Athletic Director, he was not aware of the issue. “Now that we are three weeks into the spring season, I can’t do much during this next season,” he said. “If it needs to be on the radar, we will go into next year with this as an objective to try to address.”

While Hudson acknowledged the G/H preference, he explained that the boys’ varsity team can only hold practices during G/H due to boys’ tennis coach Frederic Brussel’s staff room obligations, which limit his availability.

Hudson emphasized the importance of staffing constraints and preferences when devising a schedule. “I think staffing for each sport is at the top of my priorities in terms of scheduling,” he said. “If a coach cannot attend a certain time slot, that would be a primary consideration when deciding if a team gets G/H or E/F.”

Health Instructor Shane LaPointe added that coaches, who often teach or work other Academy jobs, must be carefully accommodated. “We want to support the best possible coaches we can get for our students [while] balancing at the same time the very real concern of how to juggle multiple Academy positions—like teaching or working as a staff member—at one time is high on our list of priorities,” she said.

On the other hand, lower Catherine Fortin, both a squash and tennis athlete, noted that Brussel’s boys’ team rotates with the girls’ between E/F and G/H block during the winter season.“I play squash, too, and we rotate with the boys each year. They’ll have E/F one year, then G/H,” she said. “But Girls’ Tennis has had E/F sports for many years, even though after each season they request to rotate again.”

Hudson voiced that the complexity of scheduling may have contributed to programming issues. “At times, changes one made for a staffing issue may, over time, become less pressing … however, the schedule remains the same,” he said. “At times, one loses the rationale of why it was done in the first place, and then three years later it bubbles up and we wonder, ‘Why are we doing this?’ There are so many moving parts.”

The girls’ tennis team requested that the athletic department switch practice times with the boys both in the 2018 and 2019 seasons but, according to girls’ varsity teammate and senior Elizabeth Yang, was declined. “When we asked for the change again this year, they said it was too late,” she said. “And so we got a bit frustrated as a group—why were they telling us it’s too late to ask for the change this year when we already had last year?”

In addition to time slots, Yang noted that in the beginning of the season, there was also contention regarding coaching assignments. Hudson explained that the department moved coach Gayatri Ramesh from the girls’ varsity B team to the boys’ varsity B team due to a request.

Members of the girls’ varsity tennis team questioned the lack of transparency around the move. “The players really didn't know that Coach Ramesh was going to be coaching the boys’ team this year until a decision was already made,” Yang said. “The girls’ team had really admired Ms. Ramesh as a coach, so we were hurt that we did not hear more information or have more say … the girls’ team didn’t have a JV coach until very recently.”

Ramesh cited the boys’ team structure as a reason for her move. Boys’ Varsity A and B practice together with eight players on each team, a method Ramesh finds preferable “as it allows players to learn from each other.” Ramesh added, “In the future, I hope that the girls’ and boys’ Varsity A and B could practice at the same time, as it could prove beneficial to all teams.”

When asked about the miscommunication surrounding scheduling and coaching changes, Yang expressed that students’ voices should be included in conversations about future seasons. “I hope that Exeter Tennis continues to become more transparent in communicating between the Athletics Department, the coaches and the players so that we all have an equitable and enjoyable experience,” she said.

Upper Tia Stockwell added that even while she understands how students would believe there is bias in the block and coaching assignment process, “I don't want to use the term ‘sexist’ to describe the actions of the Academy or whoever has the power to assign practice times to each team, but it almost seems that way,” she said. “E/F has been the practice time since I've been here, and I don't even know how long before.”

Hudson acknowledged student concerns and encouraged students to maintain dialogue in the future. “Students should feel free to come to me directly,” Hudson said. “Athletes, captains, coaches and the Athletic Director should always maintain an avenue of communication when members of the Exeter community are concerned.”