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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1982)
Page 8 Daily Ncbraskan Tuesday, March 16, 1982 Sports - Women 's sports to survive demise of Title IX By Kevin Warncke Although the Title IX program soon could be a thing of the past, Nebraska Women's Athletic Director June Davis said she docs not foresee any problems with the continuation of the womcns' sports program. "It's (the Title IX program) not officially done away with yet, but President Reagan is slowly dismantling it," Davis said. "It's dying a slow death." Davis said a misconception about the Title IX program is that it requires equal funding for men's and women's athletics. Actually, the program insures men and women an equal opportunity in education, and this includes the area of athletics, she said. "For instance, if a male wanted to take a home cc class, he has the right to," Davis said. "Athletics is just part of the whole area." But, Davis said, the equal opportunity policy has sonic stipulations. Frosh tennis player moves from fifth spot to first in singles play By Scott Ahlstrand UNL tennis player Ridge Schmidt is in his first year of college competition, but the freshman from Phoenix, Ariz., is far from inexperienced. "I've been playing tennis since I was 6," Schmidt said. "I really started to travel to tournaments when I was 12. I kind of followed my sister and brother's footsteps, Both of them played a lot of tennis. My sister Gretchcn is play ing for Southern Methodist University." Schmidt said it was easy for him to dedicate his time to tennis. "All of my friends belonged to the same tennis club," Schmidt said. "I knew that I wanted to play tennis, so it wasn't hard to give up other sports." Schmidt is UNL's No. I singles player. He made the jump from No. 5 last semester. Head Coach Kerry McDermoti said Schmidt is just beginning to tap his potential. "Ridge has got a lot of ability and he can certainly go farther with it," McDermott said. "There's no limit how far he can go if he keeps working hard." Schmidt said his rise to the top has a lot to do with the weather differences between Arizona and Nebraska. Continued on Page 9 "Just because the men have a track team doesn't mean that there automatically has to be a women's track team," she said. "Thcic has to be interest shown and quality peo ple to make" up the team." "It docs provide that women will have time to play, uniforms to wear, qualified competition, travel, times to practice and things like that," she said. One reason for the demise of the program, according to Davis, is the government's role in enforcing the pro gram. "The primary reason for the program failing is that I feel the government didn't do a good job of implementing the program at their level. They had people come and check for discrepencies, but they weren't well informed and didn't carry through with any sanctions against those who abused the program," she said. "It was bigger than they could handle. Now it could be up to the state." Davis said she thinks each state probably will assume responsibility of the program. "There's a bill, LB628, currently in the Legislature that would carry through all guidelines as Title IX and imple ment them at the state level if it were passed," she said. Bob Dcvancy, Nebraska athletic director, said that if the program would become the state's responsibility, there should be no problems in the Athletic Department. "They can do a good job if they want to," he said. Both Davis and Dcvancy said there should be no danger to the women's athletic program. "We're not concerned with the Title IX program," Dcvancy said. "It's probably a university project as much as it is a government project." Davis said the athletic program as a whole would be affected if cutbacks were necessary. "Hopefully there will be no cutbacks due to the economic situation, but if there is it won't only affect the women but also the men's athletic program," Davis said. 'The Title IX is a strong program. Many people don't want to sec it die a terrible death," she said. Jyiy.--? -fS . s , r-o A-..-'' ,v, . v wi"" y'' - v -t mmZ ip Photo by Dave Bentz Nebraska pitcher Jeff Anderson (8) hurls a pitch in last week's home opener against Sioux Falls College at Buck Beltzer Field. The Huskers won both games of the double-header. The Comluiskers currently are playing in the Pjii American Tournament in Texas. The next home game is March 25 against North Dakota State. - And now, new answers to trite sports questions Sportswriters and sportscasters have a habit of making fun of the fill-in-the-blank-type answers they often get in post -game interviews. Until recently, I did the same thing, but after watching seemingly endless hours of state high school basketball tournament games and NCAA tournament games, I've p Larry Sparks begun to believe that the problem lies in the questions, not the answers. After all, what kind of an answer can you expect when you ask something like: "How does it feel to win?" Anyone who follows athletics knows what answers to expect, but just once, it would be fun to see a journalist taught a lesson by getting some of the following replies. "Well, how does it feel to win the state champion ship?" the announcer asks. "Not too good," the winning coach replies, "We really didn't want to win this one. We did our best to lose it, believe me, but the other team just kept missing their shots and turning the ball over to us." "What would you say was the deciding factor in the game?" "That's really hard to say," the coach says. 'There were a lot of important factors in the game but I suppose the biggest was that we scored more points than they did. That was really crucial to our winning the game." "Coach, your, outside shooting was a little off in the first half. What kind t)f adjustments did you make at the half?," the announcer asks. "Yes, we did have some outside shooting in the first half," the coach says, "but at the break, I "talked them into letting us play indoors. We really began to warm up after that." "Do you think you deserved to win this game?" "No, not really," the coach replies. "In fact, we're going to try to get the other school to take the trophy be cause we think they deserved to win." About this time, the star of the team comes into view and gets hit with some more of the not-so-stimulating questions. "Well, Bill, you had a great game today, but I know it takes a team effort to win a game like this," the announc er says. "Sure it takes a team," the athlete replies, "but only because the rules say you have to play with five players. I do all the work. If it wasn't for me, we never would have gotten this far. Besides, if you think the other guys are so good, how come you always want to interview me?" "Bill, can you tell us a little bit about what you did on that last second shot?" "Well, I just took him on the circle, turned to the left, balanced the ball on my left palm, switched it to my right palm, arched my arm just a little, took careful aim, releas ed it with a low line trajectory just a little off balance and basically, I got extremely lucky," Bill says. "What about the man defending you?," the announcer asks. "I just pretended he wasn't there. It was as if I and the ball ascended the transcendent heights until we were one entity in time and space," Bill says. "I felt as if I was fly ing through space, and when the rim came into view in the far distant sky, I guided the ball neatly through. If there was a man on me, all I can say is that I just lit the sucker up." Seeing that time is running out, the announcer gets in this last question which is a favorite, especially oi the high school scene. "Bill, is there anything you want to say to the folks back home," the announcer asks, as if the folks back home haven't already heard "hi, mom" enough. "Yes there is. For 26 games we have been busting our buns running up and down the court against these guys and aH you people can do is sit in the stands and yell. Just once I'd like to see one of you get out here and try this," the athlete says. "And by the way, hi mom," he says. Random Thoughts: The Nebraska Rebounders Club has hit rock bottom. Presenting Grant's Bill Jackman with a book of signatures on live television Saturday during the state basketball tournament was about as low as you can go. A guy who has just won a state championship and set a record doing it deserves some time to enjoy it with his friends and teammates, not be hounded in front of a tele vision audience by people who think they are recruiters. Nebraska Coach Moe Iba deserves praise for his show ing of compassion to Jackman and the rest who chose other schools. The Rebounders Club and Channels 10 and II, which televised the presentation, could learn a lesson from him.