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SPORTS
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, June 27, 2019 3B
SOCCER
Eventually, World Cup
fever will carry over past
its regular four-year bump
ALESSANDRO TARRANTINO I The Associated Press
Spain’s Lucia Garcia, left, challenges for the ball with United
States’Megan Rapinoe during the Women’s World Cup
round of 16 soccer match on June 24 in Paris.
The weather is supposed
to heat up this week in
France, appropriate since
the Women’s World Cup
gets hot Friday with the
home team meeting the U.S.
in a quarterfinal matchup
that will be watched eagerly
on both sides of the pond.
The stadium will be
packed, and the TV ratings
should be big. The stakes —
and the pressure — will be
high for both teams.
And the showcase
couldn’t be better for wom
en’s soccer.
“I hope it’s huge and
crazy. That’s what it should
be,” American captain
Megan Rapinoe said. “This
is the best game, this is what
everybody wanted. I think
we wanted it, seems like
they’re up for it, you guys
are of course are up for it,
and all the fans.”
The matchup has been
eagerly anticipated ever
since the World Cup draw
in December, and for
good reason. Elimination
is at stake for either the
fourth-ranked home team
or the defending champion
Americans.
It’s a chance to celebrate
the women’s game, with
a full house at Parc des
Princes stadium in Paris
helping to overcome scenes
of earlier games with row
after row of empty seats. It’s
also a chance to embrace
women’s soccer for an eas
ily understood reason —
national pride.
But what it means for the
future of the women’s game
is more nuanced, no matter
the hype you’ll hear Friday.
That the women are play
ing on the big stage for a big
crowd is huge, of course,
especially when you real
ize that women’s sports in
many countries were so
neglected that it took until
1991 to even have a Wom
en’s World Cup.
That these same players
will struggle between World
Cups trying to draw eye
balls to the game, though, is
unfortunately still the sad
reality of women’s soccer.
So, too, is the fact they strug
gle for pay equality with the
men, as evidenced by the
gender discrimination law
suit the entire U.S. women’s
team filed against U.S. Soc
cer earlier this year.
Every time the World
Cup comes around it seems
like that has to change.
The games — at least those
among the best teams —
are exciting and the level of
play gets better every four
years.
But 20 years after the
U.S. women thrilled an
entire country by winning
the World Cup at home, it’s
still very much a work in
progress.
I was in the Rose Bowl in
1999 when Brandi Chastain
famously ripped off her
jersey after scoring the
winning kick against China.
It was a seminal moment
for women’s soccer, with a
record audience of some 40
million Americans watch
ing on television and 90,185
packed into the stadium
itself.
Before the match, I
walked into the stands and
talked to fans about what
they came to see. Many of
them were families, and
there were young girls
everywhere with Ameri
can flags and soccer balls
painted on their faces.
“Girls rule! Boys drool!
Soccer’s cool!” was the
chant that summer among
the young soccer crowd.
On that day, girls did rule
and soccer was cool. You
couldn’t pick up a sports
page for the next few weeks
without reading some story
about how soccer was tak
ing over the country and
how the young soccer fans
in the stands would grow up
to have fans of their own.
Those girls are grown up
now, and some surely have
soccer fans — and soccer
players — of their own.
But a generation later, the
dream of women playing
professionally before large
crowds is still largely unre
alized outside of the World
Cup.
A pro league started in
the afterglow of the 1999
World Cup lasted just three
years. Another league fol
lowed a few years later,
and folded a few years later
itself.
And while the National
Women’s Soccer League is
currently very much open
for business and features
the top players from the
U.S. national team, the
league has no national tele
vision contract and strug
gles to draw crowds of more
than a few thousand fans
when playing anywhere out
side Portland, Oregon.
That’s not likely to
change right away, no mat-
TIM DAHLBERG
tdahlberg@ap.org
ter how well the U.S. team
does in France. The same
fans who passionately cheer
them on when wearing the
uniform of the national
team don’t feel nearly as
connected — for whatever
reason — when the front of
the uniform says Houston
Dash or Utah Royals FC.
The bright spot, perhaps,
is that men’s soccer faced
the same problem for years
before finally gaining some
traction with the suddenly
in vogue MLS. There are
high hopes the women can
conceivably grow in the
same direction, but so far
it’s been a slog.
Some top European clubs
have been carving out bud
gets for women’s teams in
recent years, sparking some
more interest overseas
for both players and fans.
A recent match in Italy
drew 40,000 fans — lured
partly by free tickets — and
another in Spain attracted
60,000.
So tune in Friday for what
should be a great show.
Invite some co-workers in to
watch together on the office
TV and discuss the subtle
ties of the French defense
and what should be done
with VAR.
It’s sport on a high level,
with national pride at stake.
Too bad we pay attention
only once every four years.
Tim Dahlberg is a national
sports columnist for The
Associated Press.
VANDY
■ Continued from 1B
all since Miami in 2001.
The loss ended a sur
prising postseason run
for Michigan, which went
from being one of the last
four teams picked for the
64-team NCAA Tournament
to becoming the first Big Ten
team to play in the finals
since Ohio State in 1966.
Hickman gave up three
straight singles to start the
game, leading to Michigan’s
first run. He retired nine
of the next 10, striking out
six, and got out of trouble
when the Wolverines loaded
the bases in the fourth. He
retired the last six he faced
before turning the game
over to Eder.
Hickman fanned nine or
more in five of his final six
starts and allowed one or
fewer runs in nine of his last
13.
Though the Commodores
brought to Omaha an offense
ranked in the top five nation
ally in the major categories,
it was pitching that carried
them for most of their stay.
Vandy had eight runs
on nine hits Wednesday,
but its .221 average in six
CWS games was the lowest
for a national champion in
the aluminum bat era that
started in 1974.
Vandy got hits when it
needed them in Game 3. Pat
DeMarco sent Kauffmann’s
hanging slider 407 feet into
the left-field bleachers — his
seventh homer of the season
and 100th for the Commo
dores — to tie it at 1 in the
second.
The Commodores scored
three runs with two outs in
the third. Two walks and
a single loaded the bases,
and Kauffmann walked
DeMarco to force in the go-
ahead run. Stephen Scott
singled up the middle for
two more.
Kauffmann tied a career
high with five walks, four
coming in a stretch in which
six of seven Vandy batters
reached base. Jeff Criswell
relieved after Kauffman
walked Ty Duval leading off
the fourth, and JJ Bleday’s
single and Ethan Paul’s sac
rifice fly stretched the lead
to 6-1.
COLLEGE SPORTS
PAUL NERNON I The Associated Press
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields prepares to throw during a March 6 practice in
Columbus, Ohio.
NCAA makes revisions
for granting waivers of
transfers more difficult
Associated Press
Following fresh concerns
about the handling of ath
letes switching schools, the
NCAA approved several
adjustments Wednesday
to the guidelines used to
determine when waivers
can be granted to transfers
seeking immediate eligibil
ity to play.
The adjustments
approved by the Division I
council will require schools
requesting a waiver for an
incoming transfer to pro
vide more documentation
to support the argument
— and more detailed veri
fication of athletes’ claims
about why they are leaving
the original school.
“The overall goal of
these adjustments was to
provide the membership
with as much information
and knowledge and educa
tion as to what they need to
be including in their waiver
requests,” said Brandy Hat-
away, NCAA director of
academic and membership
affairs.
“I don’t know if I’d say
it’s extra (information).
A lot of it is information
that was already being
requested in the process.
It’s just now letting schools
know on the front end
rather than them submit
ting their requests and staff
going back to them and say
ing we need x, y, z.”
The move comes 14
months after a directive
helped clear the way for
immediate eligibility for
all approved requests.
Previously, the legisla
tive relief available to ath
letes requesting a transfer
waiver was a sixth year of
eligibility.
Only in cases where the
student was a victim of
egregious behavior by a
school could immediate eli
gibility be granted.
Since the change, high-
profile cases involving
quarterbacks Shea Patter
son of Michigan and Justin
Fields of Ohio State have
been decided in favor of
the players. But the overall
rate of approval of waiver
requests during that time
has been about the same as
previous years. What has
gone up significantly is the
number of waiver requests.
Attorney Tom Mars, who
has worked on waivers
for Patterson, Fields and
other college athletes, said
“massive, widespread con
fusion” about why waivers
are granted has caused
the uptick in requests. He
said he gets two or three
calls and email a day from
parents and head coaches
seeking assistance.
“More often than not, the
parents and coaches asking
for my help have already
convinced themselves
that the student-athlete
they want me to represent
should get a waiver just
because some other player
they read about was given
one,” Mars told AP in an
email. “On top of that, some
head coaches have been
putting undue pressure on
their compliance staff to
pursue waiver requests
that don’t stand a chance of
being granted.”
GADDIS
■ Continued from 1B
structure and height.
“You have to have jump
ing ability,” Wessely said.
“Jumping ability is tied to
speed. ...You have to snap
your legs up real fast and
then push away. Timing is
very important. ...You’ve
got to measure your steps
and stutter-step enough so
that the foot is exactly get
ting on top of or over the
hurdle completely because
it won’t give.
“Regular hurdling you
knock it over and you
keep on going. These
they go nowhere. You go
headfirst.”
With Wessely’s experi
ence in racing and track
and field, he’s quick to
point how rare Gaddis’
accomplish is.
“It’s very much extraor
dinary and beyond,” he
said. “I’ll tell you some
thing else: There’s a lot
of college coaches that
come to Junior Olympics.
...There was a college
coach there and he saw
him run and saw the way
he ran, he said ‘(Gaddis)
has got himself a ticket to
any college that does track
and field because they
can’t get enough steeple
chasers. People are scared
of it because it’s coordina
tion and you’ve got to have
no fear and the talent and
to get all three of those are
hard to come by.”
The 71-year-old man
has made an irreplaceable
mark on the 16-year-old.
Gaddis doesn’t even know
where to start when speak
ing of the role model.
“Coach Wes has made
the person I am today,”
Gaddis said. “Since five
years now, I’ve been train
ing with him and he’s such
an amazing man and per
son. During the training,
he’s so knowledgeable in
the sport. ...All the work
outs he’s taken me through,
I wouldn’t have thought
of or been able to do by
myself. Where I am speed-
wise today, I wouldn’t be if
it wasn’t for him.”
Now, the next battle lies
ahead on July 5th at the
Junior Olympics Regional
Championship in Rock Hill,
S.C., where he will compete
in the 2000-meter steeple
chase and 3000-meter race.
“It’s going to be a lot dif
ferent experience with a lot
more people in the steeple
chase race, trying to navi
gate the barriers and the
people,” Gaddis said. “I’m
super excited.
“Each race is going to
build my experience for
races to come.”
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