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University of Massachusets Athletics
Judy Dixon Featured In Current Issue Of NSWTA Magazine
December 30, 2014 | Tennis
Game Changers: Judy Dixon
by Molly Hahn, NSWTA Magazine
Confronting inequity and opportunities squandered as the Yale University women's tennis coach and full-time athletic coordinator, 26-year old Judy Dixon felt compelled to make a bold move. She sued Yale for discrimination under Title IX, the first time a major university had been challenged in court under that landmark legislation. Who could have anticipated the impact her action would have on Yale and on the history of college athletics? As a result of her 1975 lawsuit, female student athletes are now provided with trainers, full-time coaches, upgraded facilities, and expanded budgets. Judy challenged Yale not for personal gain but from a sense of fair play and the difference it would make in the lives of her students.
Who was the first woman to provide pro sports color commentary? It was Judy, for the Boston Lobsters of World Team Tennis. Who was the first woman ever nominated for an Emmy in Sports Broadcasting? You guessed it.
However, these accomplishments are only the tip of the iceberg. She has dedicated the last 20+ years at UMass Amherst pioneering a transformation of college tennis. I believe that what Judy has created could have a profoundly positive impact on the college experience and maybe on all of society, if implemented more broadly. The remainder of this article focuses on Judy's approach.
As a Division 1 coach Judy perpetually challenges herself to create opportunity for each of her players. She is motivated by the idea of being able to offer a chance at a better life through education and sports. Tennis is the vehicle, but education is the prize.
Judy has one of the more diverse teams on the UMass campus, and this is by design. She considers herself truly fortunate to be able to select young women for athletic scholarships that allow them to step into a life they could not have imagined. Many of her players would not have been able to attend college without a scholarship. She has coached many first generation collegians. One of the greatest joys of Judy's life has been to watch her players grab hold, to stand with them both on and off the court as their confidence soars and as doors open in all aspects of their lives. Because Judy feels so strongly that academic success and athletic accomplishments must go hand in hand, signage around the UMass varsity courts honors both sets of achievements equally. Conference Championships and All-Conference selections stand alongside NCAA Academic All American honors.
Two stories illustrate the results of Judy's efforts with her athletes:
In 2005, Judy benched one of her players for a semester for achieving a less than stellar GPA. As a star athlete in high school, that player had been allowed to coast, missing classes but still competing on various high school sports teams. When Judy pulled her from competition, she did so with the hope that the player would rededicate herself to both her team and her education. This athlete went on to captain the team her senior year and has since earned a graduate degree while coaching the Men's and Women's teams at Endicott College.
In 2009 Judy recruited a player from the West who announced during the first week of school that her favorite high school subject was recess. The player had left a large extended family in Las Vegas, none a college grad, to attend UMass. When Judy asked her why she chose UMass, the player responded that she knew that Judy wasn't scared of her and would hold her to the real goal, getting the education that would change her life. This player went on to earn a graduate degree and coach at James Madison University. Today she is back at UMass working in the Academic Support Office, a far cry from recess.
Judy realizes that college athletic coaches have more direct interaction with students when they are practicing, training, playing under pressure, traveling, and socializing than perhaps any other college employee. Thus, her potential influence on their lives can be enormous and it is. Her dedication to her players as a coach, mentor, counselor, advocate and more has resulted in long hours on and off the court, often being at most a phone call away.
The college experience could be enhanced and transformed if college coaches dedicated themselves, as Judy has, to these principles:
1) Tennis is the vehicle that provides the first step. Often that first step is a college scholarship.
2) The coach's job is to ensure that tennis ability
is the portal to the game-changing opportunities offered by higher education.
3) Life is a team sport. The goal is that players complete their college tennis careers valuing their team over individual accomplishments. Junior tennis is a solitary sport. Many tennis players have never experienced the joys and benefits of being a committed and responsible team member.
4) The coach's responsibility is to create high standards, helping the players adopt strong ethical values: self-discipline, honesty, fairness, respect, and appreciation of diversity.
5) Coaches are most effective as role models when they "pay it forward," giving to their successors the benefits of our great game that their own mentors gave them.
Just think about the impact on the players, the college experience, and society if Judy's principles were implemented across the landscape of college coaching!
