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CAREER CATALYST: A member of the first women鈥檚 track and field team in the late 1970s and later a coach of several Rochester Hall of Famers, Blackett says the training regimen helped shape her career as a nationally recognized sports administrator. (Photo: Charles Sykes/AP Images for Rochester Review)鈥楶ivotal Part of my Existence in College鈥
Jacqueline Blackett 鈥81
Not an athlete in high school, Jacqueline Blackett, a three-time MVP in track and field while at Rochester, developed a deep interest in the sport after a girlfriend asked for some company at an informational meeting the first week of their freshman year.
鈥淲e end up in this little room and there are only guys in there,鈥 says Blackett. 鈥淵ou can imagine their faces.鈥
Mainly because they鈥檇 wound up in the men鈥檚 locker room, but also because, though they hadn鈥檛 been aware of it, there was only a men鈥檚 team at the time. Coach Tim Hale did, however, under no University mandate, offer to have them join the few women who liked to work out with the team.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 how my love for track and field was born,鈥 says Blackett, now senior associate athletics director and a senior administrator at Columbia University. 鈥淲ithout him, I would not have had a track and field career.鈥
A year later, in 1978, with even more interest from other female classmates, Blackett became part of Rochester鈥檚 first women鈥檚 track and field team.
鈥淚t was the pivotal part of my existence in college,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he skill sets you learn from being an athlete are immeasurable. You have the ability to be quantitative, to overcome adversity, to think and work in a team setting, and to look at problems from a much more holistic point of view. It was pretty much the catalyst for the adult I would become.鈥
Blackett, who coached the women鈥檚 track and field and cross country teams at the University from 1983 to 1989, feels honored to have trained almost every women鈥檚 track and field star in Rochester鈥檚 Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2009, she was one of eight women named Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators.
Blackett no longer runs for exercise (鈥淚 loved competing, but I never liked training,鈥 she admits), but the self-described introvert looks back fondly at how that training helped shape the decisions she made afterward both personally and professionally.
鈥淲hen you belong to something, it builds confidence,鈥 she says. 鈥淎nd when you鈥檙e confident, you don鈥檛 hold back on pursuing things. It just increases the ways in which you can be bold.鈥
鈥楳y Greatest Joy Back Then鈥
Patty Rupp Hodge 鈥87, 鈥91M (MD)
DECORATED DOCTOR: One of Rochester鈥檚 most decorated swimmers, Hodge continues to compete in the pool鈥攊n addition to coaching her sons鈥 swim team and practicing as a physician. (Photo: Adam Fenster)Her parents put her in swimming lessons as a small child because they owned a summer cottage on a lake and didn鈥檛 want her to drown. Patty Rupp Hodge would go on to become an 11-time All-American who won 13 New York State championships, held 15 Rochester records, and become known as one of the finest swimmers in the University鈥檚 history.
Hodge remembers having been a mediocre high school swimmer who, once at Rochester, was taught by coach Pat Skehan to focus on technique before grinding out yardage, an atypical philosophy in those days. She trained six days a week in the pool, sometimes twice a day, worked out with weights, and attended meets on weekends.
鈥淚 always looked forward to practice, which made college even more fun than it would鈥檝e been otherwise,鈥 says the Rochester Athletic Hall of Famer. 鈥淚 loved the exercise, the camaraderie, the competitive aspects, and the attempts to achieve something positive. Being on the swim team was my greatest joy back then, and I was really happy to have that opportunity.鈥
On the competitive circuit since the age of nine, Hodge continues to compete鈥攈er team is the Great Bay Masters鈥攖o stay physically fit. 鈥淚 developed rheumatoid arthritis about seven years ago and I鈥檓 convinced swimming helps keep my joints in as good of a condition as possible,鈥 she says. She trains mostly by herself, though, given a busy schedule that includes raising two sons and practicing as a physician specializing in infectious diseases.
She runs the infection control program at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.H., and is medical director of the hospital鈥檚 Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine.
Hodge makes sure to snag some pool time several mornings a week at the University of New Hampshire, five minutes from her home. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the only personal time I truly have,鈥 she says.
Outside of work, she spends eight to 10 hours a week coaching her boys鈥 swim team, with the hope that her sons, now in the fifth and seventh grades, will have the chance to swim on a college team someday.
鈥淚 wanted to be the best swimmer I could, and I felt that Rochester brought that out in me,鈥 she says. 鈥淣ow I鈥檓 putting my energy into letting my kids have a chance at the sport.鈥
鈥楢 Great Training Ground鈥
Elizabeth Arendt 鈥75, 鈥79M (MD), 鈥84M (Res)
CAREER LEADER: A founder of the women鈥檚 volleyball team in the early 1970s, Arendt also became the first athletic trainer for women, an early introduction to her future career in orthopaedic surgery. (Photo: Craig Lassig for Rochester Review)One of the first things Elizabeth Arendt did as a Rochester student was tell the athletic department she wanted to play volleyball. There was no team, but she was encouraged to take a physical education class that taught the sport.
鈥淭he first day I was there, the instructor called me over and said, 鈥榃hat are you doing in this class? This is to learn to play,鈥欌 recalls Arendt, who鈥檇 been on a volleyball team in high school. 鈥淚 told her that I didn鈥檛 care, that I just wanted to play. She said, 鈥榃hy don鈥檛 you help me teach?鈥欌
By the second semester, Arendt was running intramurals and refereeing, experiences that made her instrumental in forming a women鈥檚 volleyball team in 1972, her junior year. 鈥淚 benefitted from being at the right place at the right time,鈥 she says.
When she complained that men had access to the training room and the services of an athletic trainer, while women did not, she was tapped to be the University鈥檚 first athletic trainer for women. This led the way to coed medical services, including a coed training room. By the end of her senior year, she was putting therapeutic tape on basketball players and reading about an emerging field called sports medicine. Already pre-med, she decided to pursue a career in orthopaedic surgery.
Arendt, a member of the Rochester Athletic Hall of Fame, is now an orthopaedic surgeon, professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, and sports medicine advisor to Big Ten and national committees. She credits athletics with preparing her for the workplace. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great training ground for cooperation and multitasking, and a great way to blow off steam and unite for a common cause,鈥 she explains. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 learn those skills as kids and young adults, it鈥檚 harder to learn later.鈥
A 1975 recipient of the Merle Spurrier Award for contributions to women鈥檚 sports, Arendt feels a sense of pride that she was able to be part of a generation of women who helped put the printed words of Title IX into action.
鈥淏eing an athlete gave me confidence in my ability, and the belief that every ability has a role to play,鈥 she says. 鈥淭his is not about trying to be equal to men. It鈥檚 about having the opportunity to do the things we love.鈥
鈥楬elped Form My Thinking鈥
Jody Lavin Patrick 鈥82
COACHING ADVICE: 鈥淚 coach with a passion, with a fire, because I want the girls to understand that when you really want something, you have to go after it,鈥 says Lavin, the 1982 Division III Player of the Year. (Photo: Kevin Wolf for Rochester Review)The youngest of nine, Jody Lavin Patrick often played basketball with her brothers. She joined her first basketball team in elementary school, then tried out for the boys鈥 team as a high school freshman because there was no other option. She made the first cut before administrators announced that they would, in fact, form a team for girls.
Two years later, she watched the first women鈥檚 U.S. Olympic basketball team practice at Rochester鈥攐n the same court that would later be instrumental in a journey that would also take her to the Rochester Athletic Hall of Fame.
鈥淚 had a chance to see that the University cared about women鈥檚 sports, and to me, that was a pretty big statement,鈥 says Patrick, named NCAA Division III Player of the Year in 1982 and a former CoSIDA Academic All-American. She鈥檚 now the physical education teacher and head coach of girls鈥 varsity basketball at the private Flint Hill School in Oakton, Va.
When Patrick arrived at Rochester in 1978, she found the supportive athletic department she鈥檇 been anticipating. The shooting guard and three-year captain scored 2,000 points for the women鈥檚 basketball team鈥攍anding herself among the nation鈥檚 leaders in scoring as a senior鈥攁nd set 14 school records.
鈥淭o be a healthy student, I needed to be a healthy athlete,鈥 says Patrick, who still plays basketball informally with several women from church. 鈥淭he sport helped form my thinking when it came to organization, time management, and forging friendships. I just felt good about myself.鈥 And she鈥檚 proud that her son and daughter have discovered the same positive effects as college-level athletes.
Patrick鈥檚 career highlights include serving on the USA Basketball Development System and being tapped in 2004 as one of eight coaches to participate in the USA Basketball Women鈥檚 Youth Development Festival. These days, she works as a TV and radio analyst, and as sports director of a summer camp at her current school.
She talks often with her female athletes about the importance of Title IX, and asks them to share their own research on the legislation.
鈥淚 coach with a passion, with a fire, because I want the girls to understand that when you really want something, you have to go after it,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e have to honor the women who came before us.鈥
LIFE COACH: The 1986 UAA Player of the Year in soccer, McKenna encourages her children to be active in sports as a way of
building self-esteem that carries into other areas of their lives. (Photo: Adam Fenster)鈥楥ouldn鈥檛 Imagine Not Being Involved鈥
Martha Winter McKenna 鈥90, 鈥95W (Mas)
Martha Winter McKenna grew up listening to her mother and aunts lament the lack of athletic opportunities in their day.
鈥淚t seemed like a world apart compared to what I was living,鈥 says the former four-year standout for the Yellowjackets soccer team as a sweeper and forward. 鈥淲e won two national championships at Rochester, and the University built up our achievements so much. I couldn鈥檛 imagine not being involved in a sport in college.鈥
The 1986 University Athletic Association Player of the Year and All-American found herself with less free time and better grades during the soccer season, and part of an immediate social group and support system. She later was inducted into the Rochester Athletic Hall of Fame.
Over the years, McKenna has been a school counselor and soccer coach for the Stormers Soccer Club, a travel soccer team based in the Rochester suburb of Brighton, where she lives. (As a coach, she embraced advice she once heard from renowned soccer coach Anson Dorrance, which was to teach girls to 鈥渒eep score and play to win.鈥)
With two boys and two girls, she balances time at home with her work as a part-time counselor. She encourages her children to be active in sports, to build a sense of self-esteem that can carry over into other areas of their lives. But she finds it disconcerting that her daughters鈥攁nd even women her age鈥攄on鈥檛 fully appreciate what Title IX has meant for female athletes.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 raised to realize enough that this was an opportunity,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 have been just a given.鈥
McKenna has never taken a break from her favorite sport. This fall, when not attending her own children鈥檚 soccer games, she can be found playing one or two games a week in women鈥檚 leagues in the Rochester-area towns of Penfield and Pittsford, 鈥渁nd when people talk me into another league here and there.鈥
鈥淢y poor neighbors can still find me juggling and dribbling around my yard, with or without my kids,鈥 says McKenna, who鈥檇 just returned from a run for an interview.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a little daunting to imagine my life without sports,鈥 she admits. 鈥淧eople think of me as athletic and I beam. I really appreciate being considered that way. Maybe it鈥檚 not important for other people, but it鈥檚 something I really value.鈥