Ally Wilchusky ‘21 Morgan Perry ‘21
Courtesy of Star Tribune
Episcopal Academy has a powerful legacy of having top level sports teams and an organized athletic program. In previous years, there has been talk of unfair treatment between the girls’ and boys’ sports teams, especially involving the cross country and track teams. However, this “discrepancy” seems to be a common misunderstanding among the students. Gina Buggy and Jim Farrell provide insight on the reasoning behind why girls were required to practice in their sports bras and how currently, the rules are more lenient in terms of what they are allowed to run in.
A common discrepancy talked about within the Episcopal Academy community is the idea that girl sports were not allowed to wear only sports bras while boys were commonly seen working out shirtless. To understand more about this issue we interviewed Farrell, who coaches boys cross country and track, and Buggy, the athletic director along with the coach of the nationally ranked girl’s field hockey. In our interviews, we discovered that there was no rule that banned girls from running in sports bras. Buggy assures that, “It is merely based on the comfort level of the coaches and athletes surrounding that particular sport.” Buggy also brought up the issue to other athletic directors in the Inter-Ac and came to a surprising conclusion that the co-ed schools allowed running in sports bras while single sex schools did not. Farrell explained his boys’ rules concerning not wearing their shirts, and addressed the issue saying, “I do not find any harm in letting my boys run shirtless, as long as they are dressed appropriately in the middle of our EA community.”
In recent years, girls’ sports teams (most commonly cross country) have fought their coaches and the administration to gain the liberty of running in sports bras. In achieving that freedom, there is a solid consensus for running in sports bras. Although coaches and other authority figures feel it is more of a “comfort issue,” the girls generally, agree that they like running in sports bras.
Cross country runner Cayla Beaulieu ‘20 feels strongly saying, “If males are uncomfortable with it they can simply not look instead of dictating how we run our practices.” Beaulieu also states, “If you look at the Olympics, all athletes in team sports wear uniforms. If you look at runners, all of the women are all in sports bras.”
Strong arguments like these have created more “relaxed” practices in which girls were permitted to run in their sports bras. The tension last year surrounding this topic has seemed to decrease. More calm agreement between players and coaches has been reached in which everyone feels secure and comfortable.