Fit for God
Golf: British Open to Allow Women to Compete Against Men
Voice of America News October 13, 2005
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews, which organizes the British Open, says that women will be eligible to take part in the men's tournament if they qualify.
British Open organizers said next year's entry form will no longer be restricted to male professionals and amateurs.
Any woman finishing in the top five at any of the four LPGA majors can try for the British Open at Hoylake next July. Also, a woman meeting the entry requirements for international qualifying, local final qualifying and the Open can enter. The decision was made on the day that sensation Michelle Wie, 16, made her professional debut.
Why Do Some Coaches of Women's Basketball Have Mustaches?
VOA News July 26, 2005
"We Got Game." That's what the Women's National Basketball Association -- or WNBA -- promised when the league was formed in 1996. It would prove that women play exciting, team-oriented basketball -- albeit with fewer high-flying moves and egocentric chest thumps than muscular male players. But an irritant, for some, is that 8 of the 13 WNBA head coaches are men! And a man has been hired to coach the new Chicago team that will begin play next year. And what do women WNBA coaches think? "There are a lot of great women's coaches who haven't gotten a chance," Seattle Storm coach Anne Donovan told the Washington Times newspaper. The league president -- a woman -- says the best available coach should be hired, period.
No woman has ever coached a men's NBA team or a top-level men's college team. So it's a sore point for some that a majority of the coaches of women who "got game" -- and more than a 1/3 of the coaches of women's college teams -- have deep voices, facial hair, and, in quite a few cases, receding hairlines.
Author Revives Interest in African American Jockey Jimmy Winkfield’s Extraordinary Life
VOA News December 20, 2005
A new book is teaching Americans about an extraordinary and largely forgotten sports figure from the early 20th century. African American jockey Jimmy Winkfield twice won the nation's premier horse race, the Kentucky Derby. But he was not allowed to walk into the front door of America's premier hotels and restaurants. In fact, racism forced him to leave the United States for Europe, where he became fabulously famous and wealthy, and survived a revolution and two world wars. More...
African American Rugby Team Plays to Win
VOA News December 24, 2004
Our story is about a group of athletes. We’re not talking about professionals, but rather a team of amateur players who have learned something valuable about themselves while preparing for the game. They are young African American men who live in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. They are students in a school where money for extra-curricular activities is often scarce, and the introduction of a new sport can be difficult. But as Brian Purchia says their coach has found a way to get his young athletes ready for life, by playing rugby. Four years ago, when Hyde Charter School started a rugby team, most of the students had never heard of the sport. But coach Tal Bayer was persistent, “We went from the first year, where [on] game day we had 13 guys needed for a 15-man team. We were pulling kids as we’re walking out the building, ‘hey, come play,’ and they played because we had to fill the team out.” More...
