NCAA gives women’s teams weight room after protests

After national outrage over the NCAA’s offering men a full weight room and women athletes with a dumbbell rack, the organization relented. According to an update posted on social media on Saturday, women’s teams got what they expected – a room full of weight-training equipment.

“Guess what, guys,” said Sedona Prince, a player on the Oregon Ducks team. “We have a weight room. We have a ton of extra dumbbells, look at that. See all these squat shelves and everything you want to do.”

In a video posted on Saturday, Prince offers the viewer a full tour of the equipment provided to players for March Madness tournaments.

“Thanks to the NCAA for listening to us,” she said. “We appreciate you, thank you very much.”

The revelation about the blatantly unequal treatment of the male and female teams has caused outrage on social media. Photos of the installation for men were juxtaposed with the single dumbbell rack in an empty room, highlighting the stark contrast.

“The real issue is not the weights or the ‘gifts’ bags; it is that they did not think or did not think that the players ‘deserved’ the same amenities as men,” Olympic gold medalist Dawn Staley wrote in a statement she posted on Twitter.

Staley also explicitly called NCAA President Mark Emmert to be responsible for the biggest disparity.

“What we now know is that the messages of the NCAA season about ‘union’ and ‘equality’ were about convenience and a catchphrase for the moment created after the assassination of George Floyd,” she wrote.

Staley was far from the only person to set the NCAA’s feet on fire.

“This is a total constraint and is in no way acceptable,” wrote ESPN host Jay Williams on Twitter. “I am tired of seeing the women’s game being treated as a post-thought product. Their game is elite and their accommodations need to be treated as such. PERIOD.”

The NCAA did not immediately apologize. Your opening statement falsely claimed that the problem was due to limited space, which the athletes quickly unmasked by posting a video of a large empty hall where the only dumbbell stand was located.

Later, in a statement attributed to Dan Gavitt, senior vice president for basketball at the NCAA, came an apology.

“I apologize to the female basketball student-athletes, coaches and the female basketball committee for dropping the ball in the weight rooms in San Antonio,” said Gavitt in the statement.

“The weight room has arrived! Vamosoooo, ”the organization tweeted on Saturday.

Although fans of women’s basketball are happy that the players have received their equipment, many questioned why a national outrage was needed for the situation to be resolved.

“These young student-athletes have a powerful voice,” tweeted Kelly Graves, chief female basketball coach at the University of Oregon. “So proud that my team, as well as others, stood up, expressed an error and were instrumental in making the change!”