Major renovations approved for varsity weight room

Photo courtesy of Emily Tarinelli ’25.
The varsity weight room in Kendall Sports and Dance Complex, above, will undergo major renovations in summer 2023 and will be done on Aug. 15.

By Emily Tarinelli ’25

Sports Editor

Kendall Sports and Dance Complex is ready to boost its game. After months of student-driven planning and advocacy, the Mount Holyoke Board of Trustees has approved a renovation of the building’s varsity weight room. The renovations will begin in late May or early June and are slated to be ready for occupancy on Aug. 15, 2023, when fall sports athletes return to campus for their pre-seasons.

The idea to upgrade the varsity weight room, affectionately nicknamed the Lyons’ Den by student-athletes, has been around for years, Mount Holyoke Strength and Conditioning Coach Jay Mendoza said. Months ago, members of the Mount Holyoke Student-Athlete Advisory Committee drafted a letter to the College’s Interim President Beverly Daniel Tatum proposing the renovations. This month, four SAAC members with key roles in putting together the proposal — Chair Emily Mock ’24 of the basketball team, Vice Chair Shannon Breen ’24 of the soccer team, and Treasurer Lucie Berclaz ’25 of the volleyball team and Rachel Katzenberg ’25 of the field hockey team — then presented the letter to Tatum during her office hours. The Board of Trustees accepted it soon after.

Mendoza explained that while the current Lyons’ Den is a great space to train, it nonetheless has its shortcomings that keep athletes from training at their best.

“The low ceilings are definitely a big problem, especially when we’re doing more power movements with our athletes — like different vertical jumps and stuff like that. It could definitely be a hazard for some of our taller friends, in volleyball or wherever, who are kind of limited with how high they can jump,” he said. “And then there’s some other small things like the lack of wall space. On every wall, there’s a mirror, there’s pipes … and for us, we do a lot of mobility drills. We would like to [be able to] throw [medicine] balls against the walls for our power development.” That can’t happen with obstructed walls, he added.

While concept designs for the Lyons’ Den renovation have yet to be generated, Mendoza emphasized that “the plan is to be as open and upfront about this project as we can be.” The Lyons’ Den, which is currently located on the basement floor of Kendall, is set to be moved up by the fieldhouse on the main level, right next to the indoor track. At present, there is a smaller, makeshift varsity weight room housed in one of the racquetball courts, which sit directly across from the track. After knocking out the middle wall, the new Lyons’ Den will take up the area of these racquetball courts and absorb the smaller weight room.

Mendoza said that with a new Lyons’ Den, the Athletic and Physical Education department will be able to provide student-athletes with “a much more well-rounded program,” especially for sports whose training requires speed, agility, running and plyometrics.

“I’m definitely excited to be upstairs by the fieldhouse because I’d love to be able to incorporate more sprints and cardio into my workouts,” Katzenberg said. “It’s easy to lift weights when you’re rested, but it’s a lot harder when your legs are tired and you’ve just done a sprint, and that’s when the real improvement happens.”

Mendoza also added that the new facilities would help bolster recruitment efforts, enabling Mount Holyoke to compete with the other teams in its conference and attract more prospective student-athletes.

“We are very excited for this project. The change of location will allow for greater flexibility in training programs,” Director of Athletics Dr. Jodi Canfield said. “The overall student-athlete experience will become more pleasant in general. Working out in a basement is kind of a downer; and a lighter, brighter space with a user-friendly ceiling and better flooring is what is desired. Moving this space is the first step in the overall locker room project, which will benefit the entire community who uses Kendall.”

Katzenberg spoke about the significance of having an improved weight room, emphasizing the student-athletes’ involvement in the process.

“It’s important to show student-athletes that our voices do matter and that our voices can fully make a difference. So when the renovations got approved, it really solidified that we, as student-athletes, can make a difference in our lives right now,” she said. “Secondly, we want to compete with the best right now. And by having a new, renovated Lyons’ Den, we can push our bodies to our limits and really get stronger physically and mentally.”

“This was driven by student-athletes. It was their voice that really made the change,” Mendoza said. “Without them, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Club Corner: Ice Hockey celebrates seniors in game versus Smith College

By Emily Tarinelli ’25

Sports Editor

Mount Holyoke Ice Hockey skated to a 2-8 loss in its senior game against Smith College on Saturday, Feb. 11. Hosted at Fitzpatrick Skating Rink in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke friends, families and community members gathered in the stands to support the team as it celebrated its six seniors: Bria Carlson ’23, Ellie Costello ’23, Cal Kern ’23, Greyson Giveans ’23, Helen Roane ’23 and Sophie Soloway ’23. Each senior received gift bags, flowers and a “yoke” themed hockey puck.

Carlson led the Lyons by scoring both of the team’s two points, and she did not hesitate to shout out her other teammates’ performances.

“Evie Zahner ’26 and Leslie Munoz ’26 played a brand new position, as center, and did an amazing job. They were always in the right place at the right time and played so well. On top of that, getting to play with [the] other seniors … was such a special treat,” Carlson said. “I am so proud of everyone.”

“The energy during the whole game was amazing, but right out of the gate, it was such a special moment. The way we beat Smith to pucks and kept passing in the offensive zone was such a rush,” Costello said. “The atmosphere of the game was a little bittersweet as we all started thinking about our time either as seniors or with seniors ending soon, but it was also really exciting and electric. Smith is one of the most evenly-matched teams to us in our league, and we’ve been improving so much during this season that it was exciting to have a solid chance at a win.”

“The last shift of the game was entirely seniors on ice, with the exception of the goalie,” Roane said. “That was an absolute blast.”

Cami Robinson-Parisi ’26 described some of the team’s traditions for keeping each other energized and excited. After the senior game, that energy was amplified, Robinson-Parisi shared.

“At the end of every game, we give affirming shoutouts to each other in the locker room, and [this week’s] post-game shoutouts were not short of praise for our seniors,” they said. “As a freshman, I am very new to this group of people, but the core group of seniors has made such a wonderful and welcoming environment for anyone interested in ice hockey.”

Several seniors reflected on some of their fondest team memories.

“One of my favorite memories on the team has to be driving with everyone in the fleet vans to and from games. I love when everyone gets to all hang out together,” Roane said. “One of my favorite parts of being on the team is getting to know so many new people each year from all different class years. I think it’s awesome that you don’t need any hockey experience to join the team; I’d never played hockey before coming to [Mount Holyoke] and I’m so glad that I joined.”

Costello, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said, “This team gave me new friends in two schools that I never would’ve met otherwise, and I’m so grateful that Mount Holyoke allowed us to play and that so many people on the team made it so accessible for us. I truly can’t say enough about how much this team means to me.”

“As one of the few players coming onto the team with hockey experience, to see my friends fall in love with the sport I have been playing since I was six has made me love hockey even more. I am so proud of every player that comes onto this team because a majority of them have never played before,  much less knew how to skate, and took everything — the falls, the hits, the gear — in stride with enthusiasm and respect. This team is my family here on campus,” Carlson said.

Mount Holyoke Ice Hockey will conclude its season on Saturday, Feb. 18, in its final game against Wheaton College at Fitzpatrick Skating Rink.

Editor’s Note: Sophie Soloway ’23 and Evie Zahner ’26 are members of Mount Holyoke News.

Gigi Downey ’23 to represent U.S. in world ultimate frisbee championship

By Emily Tarinelli ’25

Sports Editor

When Gigi Downey ’23 was invited to a friend’s ultimate frisbee practice in 2015, she was unsure about going and whether she would even like it. Now, eight years later, she has multiple accolades in the sport. Her most recent achievement: qualifying for the women-matching under-24 national team, punching a ticket to Nottingham, United Kingdom, to represent the United States in the U24 world ultimate championship.

A geography major and architecture minor, Downey played several sports growing up — including soccer, softball and track — but none of them stuck with her like ultimate frisbee. As a student at Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, Downey competed on both a youth club team and their high school’s frisbee team, where they served as captain during their senior year.

Now a senior at Mount Holyoke, Downey is a co-captain of Daisy Chain, the College’s ultimate frisbee team and one of Mount Holyoke’s club sports. Founded in 2005, Daisy Chain is no stranger to high achievements. According to the team’s biography on the USA Ultimate website, Daisy Chain has qualified for the Division III College Championships each year since 2016, with a fifth-place finish at last year’s 2022 championships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Additionally, Downey was recognized as last year’s Ultiworld D-III Women’s Defensive Player of the Year for their stellar performance on the field, and was named to the All-American first team.

“On offense, Downey is a speedy handler who is not afraid to make a big play or two. Her upline and strike cuts proved hard to defend and she proved to be a force near the end zone (12 goals, 14 assists). Even when she turns the disc, she knows how to find a way to get it back,” a statement on the Ultiworld website said. “As a defender, she is just as, if not more, versatile. When setting up a zone, she could cause damage in any position … What possibly makes Downey stand out the most as a defender is her heads-up defense. With an eye always on the disc, she got her hands on discs that the players she was defending didn’t see coming.”

To qualify for the U24 world team, Downey had to complete a questionnaire application in order to be invited to the tryouts.

“It was kind of like applying to a job or applying to school,” Downey recalled. “We answered a bunch of different questions that were like, ‘What’s Spirit of the Game? What kind of player are you? What’re your best strengths?’”

According to Downey, “Spirit of the Game” is a conceptual element that is unique to ultimate frisbee.

“Frisbee is a self-officiated sport. So we have observers at certain levels of play, but for the most part, when you make a call, it has to be from you and you have to talk to the [other team’s] person. … [Spirit of the Game] is basically holding respect for the other player, knowing the rules and upholding them and not cheating,” Downey said. “I feel like I value that kind of connection of trying to effectively communicate with people.”

This was not the first time that Downey attempted to qualify for the world team. In 2019, she was invited to the under-20 tryouts.

“I was really invested,” Downey said. “I would throw every day and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is a great opportunity.”

But in the middle of the tryouts, Downey broke their arm.

“It was such a big bummer,” Downey said.

Going into the U24 tryouts, which were hosted in Atlanta, Georgia, in early November 2022, Downey said that her biggest goal was to just have fun.

“I kind of had that mentality of [thinking it] was not going to be great because of how bad the last tryouts were. So my goal was to just giggle and try to play my best. And I honestly felt like I didn’t play my best, too, which was kind of funny,” Downey said.

The results of the tryouts arrived in mid-December, and Downey recalled the moment she found out that she made the team with laughter.

“It was pretty funny,” they said. “I was on the toilet. I was reading my email after cleaning out the art studio [when] it was winding down for the semester. And I had a little dance party and ran around afterwards to celebrate.”

According to an MHC This Week email sent to the Mount Holyoke community on Jan. 25, Downey is one of 24 players who claimed a spot on the U24 team out of the 200 athletes who tried out. Hosted by the World Flying Disc Federation, the games will take place between July 1 and 8, 2023. Downey will meet with the U.S. team for one weekend in the spring and will undergo an intensive training session during the week before the world championship. Until then, it is up to her to train independently. With Daisy Chain and their involvement on Boston Slow, a mixed club team based in the Boston area, that should not be a problem for Downey.

“Working hard for the people that I care about [motivates me],” Downey said. “It’s also the little things too, just like showing up to practice, doing silly things … I think just finding time with each other is super awesome.”

New report finds that trans women athletes have no unfair advantage in elite sports

Transgender pride flags. Image courtesy of Ted Eytan via Anti-Defamation League.

By Emily Tarinelli ’25

Sports Editor

For the first time ever, a report titled “Transgender Women Athletes and Elite Sport: A Scientific Review” has shown that no existing scientific literature has proven trans women to have inherent competitive advantages over cisgender women in high-performance athletics. The report, which was published in late 2022, is a comprehensive review of all English-language studies published between 2011 and 2021 exploring trans participation in elite sports. It was commissioned by the Canadian Centre of Ethics in Sport, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making sports more safe, accessible and inclusive for all, and conducted by E-Alliance, a group made up of scholars and organizations committed to gender equity in athletics.

As stated in a summary of the 86-page review by Athlete Ally, a nonprofit advocacy group for LGBTQ+ athletes, the report cites two fields of interest when it comes to drafting trans eligibility requirements: the biomedical and the socio-cultural. Under the flawed assumption that trans women athletes possess an inherent biological advantage over their cisgender counterparts, policymakers tend to use only biomedical research to inform regulations for trans inclusion, without considering sociocultural elements that also impact athletic performance. According to Athlete Ally’s summary, “Biomedical and social scientific information should both be used in policy-making. However, biomedical research is often overvalued to the detriment of athlete well-being.”

The review provides an in-depth assessment of current biomedical research, which found that most studies used to back trans inclusion policies are structured around cis men or non-athlete trans women subjects, not elite trans women athletes themselves, Athlete Ally reported. Additionally, these studies avoid recognizing instances in sports where cis women possess advantages over cis men — for example, in long-distance open water swimming, according to one comparative study. Furthermore, most literature only considers one variable, like testosterone or grip strength, and plays up that variable’s effect on athletic ability, while ignoring additional social characteristics that contribute to an athlete’s prowess. According to the review, the available biological data is not only “methodologically flawed,” but also “severely limited.”

Additionally, the review made several other findings based on the biomedical literature. First, the report found no indication that naturally produced testosterone is associated with stronger athletic performance among cis women. Moreover, the distribution of testosterone levels between elite cis men and women athletes overlap, given that everyone produces estrogen and testosterone. In addition, the review found that recent research showed that biological characteristics like bone density, lung capacity and hip-to-knee joint angles do not correspond with performance advantage. Lastly, the review stated that based on the only three studies to have explored the subject of trans athletes, any possible competitive advantages are neutralized through testosterone suppression after 12 months — and occasionally sooner.

The review then transitions into an in-depth examination of the sociocultural factors that contribute to trans athletic performance. To begin, the report states that there are many social elements that impact competitive differences between men’s and women’s sports that specifically target the latter. Sexual harassment and abuse of women athletes, comparatively lower numbers of women’s teams, disparate access to facilities and training equipment, scarcity of monetary resources, inequitable pay and societal body standards, as well as various interlocking forms of oppression including racism, homophobia and transphobia, all contribute to inequities between men’s and women’s sports and directly impact performance. According to the review, “Faulty and/or absent data about trans women’s performances makes transphobia especially present and prominent in this context of scarcity and scrutiny for women in elite sport.”

Additionally, the review summary by Athlete Ally acknowledges that trans women are extremely underrepresented in sports, particularly at the elite level, and that factors such as coaching, training time and equipment accessibility often affect performance more than biological factors like testosterone.

Athlete Ally provided several recommendations to advance a fair competitive environment for all athletes, beginning with recognizing that there is no obvious connection between testosterone and competitive advantage and that trans women have no inherent edge over cis women in athletics.

“If your sport requires testosterone-based restrictions at the elite level, research suggests that 12 months of hormone replacement therapy is adequate and that longer waiting periods are not justified,” the summary stated.

Secondly, Athlete Ally advocated the rejection of misinformation and prejudiced research. Lastly, they provided specific, actionable steps to increase gender equity in sports.

“To level the playing field for all athletes, and especially for women and girls in sport, focus on ending sexual abuse and harassment, [increasing] access to equipment and facilities, pay equity and investments in nutrition and diversifying recruitment strategies,” Athlete Ally said in the summary.

The summary also identified key points from the review about what makes a quality study.

“Studies used in policy-making should include large populations, control for factors like height and weight, and compare trained athletes to untrained people. Current studies used in policy-making about trans athletes do not do this,” the summary said. “Ideally, studies should also be sport-specific. For example, biomedical factors that contribute to success in the long jump may differ from factors in marathon running. While sport-specific studies of trans athletes may not currently exist, it is important to be thoughtful about specific sports and how variables studied in literature may or may not apply.”

“There is strong evidence that elite sport policy is made within transmisogynist, misogynoir, racist, geopolitical cultural norms,” the review said in conclusion. “Sport organizers need better education, dedicated resources and high-quality research to confront, disrupt or transform gendered systems.”