Chicks With Balls

Three instances this past weekend reminded me of why I write this column.

Event No. 1: On the way to a party with some friends, the driver, a friend of mine, was spouting off about a group project of his, and a group member who aggressively took the leadership position. This person was a friend of his, a female, whom he had never collaborated with on a school project before. He said, in so many words, that this woman was so demanding that she was “like a guy.”

Rest assured that I let my little friend know how I felt about the latter statement. Why couldn’t she just be a powerful woman (no, not a bitch) instead of a “guy?”

Event No. 2: At a conference I attended on Saturday, a woman gave 10 tips detailing how to succeed as a female in the work place. The speech in its entirety was quite inspiring and well written, yet I had one big qualm with it. In one of her points, she said that women are much more hesitant than men and that we fail to take risks in the office. This may be true, but she proceeded to explain a sports analogy so “we women” could understand how men think.

I wasn’t having that. She mentioned the old saying that when a man succeeds three out of 10 times in baseball, he is happy with his batting average. Well, I played softball, and I’m pretty sure that analogy applied to me as well.

Event No. 3: While covering the woman’s volleyball game on Friday night in which outside hitter Kylie Atherstone supremely dominated her competition with 19 kills, I overheard a comment from a man working the clock. “She is so much better than everyone on the court, it’s like she’s a guy out there,” he said.

No. She is an awesome female athlete, who would most likely beat up on most men at this school on the volleyball court, but she is a woman and I’m sure, although the man was in awe of her athletic prowess, she wouldn’t like to hear that.

Get the picture? Although to some, these may be mere words, to many they are hurtful, biased and ignorant utterances. Women can play sports. Women can play sports aggressively and with power, but those who are tough are not men, and those who are not so aggressive don’t play like little girls. As we say at the ASI Children Center, use your words.

Two sophomores at Cal Poly, Steffi Wong, 19, a biotechnical engineer from Toronto and Brittany Blalock, 19, a -business administration major from Indian Wells, Calif. have played tennis doubles together since early last season.

They are both aggressive players who have proved their dominance this season thus far. They placed second in doubles at the Cal State Fullerton Intercollegiate and also played each other in singles in the later rounds. Blalock advanced to the tournament finals and finished in second place.

Of playing her teammate, after spending a week on the road together, hotel room to hotel room, Blalock said, “Steffi’s such a strong person and we’re both great competitors that we knew we’re gonna play each other but we’re still, you know, friends off the court.”

The two were also one game away from making it to the final 16 at the ITA All-American Tournament early in October at UCLA. And to note, the team ending their successful run at the tournament was No. 1 USC.

Blalock and Wong have both been playing tennis since the age of nine or 10, although Blalock said she was hitting the ball around at two or three.

With two-hour practices and an hour of conditioning and lifting each day, it is no wonder that the two athletes have mastered the art of time management.

“(Tennis) helps make me do my work when I have to do it,” Wong said.

The two women were on the road all of last week. When I spoke to Wong, she said she had several make-up exams this week and Blalock said she was e-mailing homework to professors while on the road as well as taking some tests early.

Blalock’s mother played tennis in college and her aunt was a top juniors tennis player, and thus, Blalock picked up tennis quite easily. Wong’s inspiration spawned from her coach of six years since the age of 13. She was one of those kids who played all kinds of sports until this coach of hers convinced her to focus solely on tennis, every day.

Blalock admires the game of Andre Aggasi and Lindsay Davenport.

“I base my game on being a tall, strong athlete,” Blalock said. She said that Agassi always persevered through the ups and downs of his career and she has always aspired to play at Davenport’s level and she took notice to her because they have the same body type.

Wong likes Roger Federer – only the best.

Both women are quite praiseworthy of each other. Blalock said the two have found a good balance of strong serving and volleying and their communication is stellar. Wong said that playing with a partner helps her stay motivated, focused, confident and most of all, positive, yet she enjoys the independence of singles.

“Last week we really came together well and, I don’t know, something clicked,” Wong said of her doubles experience.

I asked the teammates how they felt about professional tennis and certain aspects of the game, such as the fact that Anna Kournikova, although not the best female player, was so dominantly placed in the media.

“I just think that women players should be looked at with their skills and what they’ve achieved, not how good that can sell a product,” Blalock said.

Wong, who was generally short and to the point with her responses, said, “She’s still way better than 99.9 percent of the population at tennis.” Touché.

The Cal Poly Invitational will be on Nov. 16. Blalock explained that this year there will be bleachers installed so fans don’t have to sit on the concrete to cheer on the team.

Last year, Blalock said their fans generally consisted of the friends they told to come. She hopes the fan base will increase just as the available seating has. The team finished second in the Big West last season and they are aiming for first this year.

Of women in sports, and the stigma that exists, Blalock said, “Women might not be as physically strong but we work just as hard on our game and compete to the best we can. Everyone should come out and support us and just everyone (who plays a sport).”

Wong said that the stigma has lessoned over the years and that as long as women keep getting stronger and continue proving themselves, hopefully the bias will lesson.

As long as female athletes like this continue to roam our campus, I will soon have less and less instances to preface my articles with.