12A — Wednesday, August 31, 2022
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
JOHN TONDORA
Daily Sports Writer
At Michigan — as anybody
will tell you — the Wolverines are
famous for game days. From the
fanfare, to the tailgates, Ann Arbor
bleeds Maize and Blue.
And at the University of Michi-
gan, game days aren’t just on Satur-
days in the fall.
No, this isn’t a cliche about bring-
ing your A-Game in class every day
— although, you should probably do
that. This is a message telling you
that in addition to each electrifying
sold-out game at the Big House on
Saturdays, there are dozens more
games played during the same
week.
And with the fiftieth anniversary
of Title IX on June 23, the sports-
loving student body of Michigan
needs your help! Because in Ann
Arbor, every sport deserves the
overwhelming amount of love and
attendance that the football pro-
Sports
Letter to freshmen: you can be the new generation of
Michigan fans that value women’s sports
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Especially each and every one
of Michigan’s talented women’s
sports.
The Wolverines are privileged
to have 14 varsity women’s sports
teams, each with a vibrant legacy
and rich future of success and
empowerment. Currently, Michi-
gan sits atop the race for the coveted
Director’s Cup, which measures
school-wide athletic performance.
An achievement powered by four
women’s Big Ten Championships.
Women’s sports at Michigan are
among the most elite in the world,
and as a student body, it is our duty
to bring the fans, energy and respect
that these teams deserve.
As a new wave of incoming fresh-
men, it is up to you to continue to
build upon and strengthen a tradi-
tion of empowering women’s sports
by attending these events. And
National Championship winning
head coach of women’s gymnastics
Bev Plocki agrees:
“I think it’s about time that we
sell our women’s programs the way
that we have our men’s programs
for decades,” Plocki said. “And we
showed for the first time this year
that we could sell out Crisler Arena
with a 12,707 attendance when we
(hosted) Auburn.”
And that’s the truth.
With every passing season, wom-
en’s sports at Michigan vault into
greater heights and cement what it
means to be a Wolverine. Selling out
Crisler Arena is just the beginning
of what this new era for women’s
sports can entail — a new era, pow-
ered by you freshmen. This is an
opportunity which women’s soccer
coach Jen Klein sees as ready for the
taking.
“I think the thing for us that we
need to keep doing is to just keep
fighting the good fight,” Klein said.
“And not say, ‘oh, we did it once,’ like
no, let’s do it. You know, every week-
end, every season. And continue to
push it to make it as great as it can
be.”
With the help of you, the incom-
ing freshmen, the sky’s the limit for
what women’s sports can reach.
When you attend these events, not
only are you empowering these ath-
letes, but you are empowering your
fellow students.
With 72 Academic All-Big Ten
Honoree women in the Fall of 2021
alone, these athletes are more than
just world-class competitors — they
are your classmates, as well.
“It’s especially important and
special when it’s peer to peer,”
Plocki said. “When it’s our athletes,
their peers and fellow students at
the University of Michigan, it’s not
just mom and dad and grandma and
some friends.”
And although bringing mom,
dad, grandma and anyone else to
these games is more than welcome,
when the student section is filled,
the atmosphere is just different.
“It’s amazing, and it just makes
our athletes feel important and spe-
cial and really energized,” Plocki
continued.
Moreover, as a wave of incoming
freshmen, your commitment to sup-
porting women’s sports will help
honor the humble beginnings of
Michigan women’s athletics. From
the six varsity sports that began in
the fall of 1973 to the 14 varsity pro-
grams in 2022, Michigan has come
a long way.
But there is still work to be done
— work that you can help with.
As much as Michigan athlet-
ics has taken steps to increase the
equity between men’s and women’s
sports — from marketing to atten-
dance and beyond — the onus is on
students to make those steps pay off.
Through attending women’s sport-
ing events, you do more than simply
enjoy the thrill and rush of an amaz-
ing game.
You support women’s sports.
And you prove to Michigan
athletics that women’s programs
already — and will continue to —
deserve the funding, exposure, mar-
keting and investment that men’s
sports have received for decades.
“The reality is, sports are draw-
ing (attendance) because of energy
and the resources that you put into
them,” Plocki said.
“And if you put the same energy
and resources into the women, I
think it would be very interesting to
see what the women really have the
capability of doing.”
With the help of you, the
incoming freshmen, the sky’s the
limit for what women’s sports
can reach.
JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily