Sports need proud Belles' help
Molly McVoy
Inside Saint Mary's Sports
The theme for Saint Mary's athletics this year seems to be refocusing the College on athletics and resurrecting our pride in Belles athletics.
A recent event at Saint Mary's highlights both the difficulty the school is going to have doing this and the lengths to which the student body is willing to go to make the athletic department as successful as its academics.
Recently a group of Saint Mary's students showed their pride when they surprised the softball team by cleaning and repainting the dugouts. They spent an entire weekend completing the project, in order for it to be finished when the team came home from a road game. They even stenciled the French Crosses on the dugouts themselves.
The first thing that came to my mind, and, probably, most people's minds, is how impressed I was that students would take the time to do this. It was students' ideas and work that made the field look so much better. Senior Johna Indriolo masterminded the plan and organized it. This willingness to step in and help out even when it's not necessary is a characteristic that has stood out in Saint Mary's women since I stepped on campus. If the dugouts needed painting and there was no one hired to do it, the students would unquestionably get it done.
As athletic director Lynn Kachmarik said, "This is a unique and special place where we all support one another even if we aren't all athletes."
The second thing that occurred to me was why did the students have to paint the dugouts? How are Saint Mary's athletics going to be competitive if we do not have the resources that other schools we play against have? Right now we don't even have the resources to paint our own dugouts.
Yes, Saint Mary's is a small, Division-III school, so our resources are limited. But does that mean that our goals should be limited, or should we work to increase our resources instead?
Saint Mary's is focused on academics, not athletics, so the answer will not be turning over all the available money to build a track and a pool and a more complete athletic facility right now.
However, is it acceptable that my Division-II high school had a better track than my college? Somewhere, there needs to be a commitment by more than the athletes to Saint Mary's athletics if improving this program is truly a goal of the College.
Without facilities for our teams to practice on or full-time coaches to lead those practices, the Belles can only get so far.
Saint Mary's has more pride in their students and athletes than most places I have seen. That always impresses me.
A commitment to back that pride with actions and resources, however, is something that needs to happen. If Saint Mary's could get where they needed to go based on the support of the students they could go anywhere, but they need more than support; they need resources and they deserve them.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not neccesarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, April 5, 2000
