Athletes look different from sport to sport

There aren't many Division III athletes of the same caliber as Dennis Rodman. Perhaps this is why some Oberlin coaches won't let their athletes get away with the same antics as the NBA superstar. When it comes to personal appearance, most coaches expect team members to maintain a certain standard.

"I feel that the way you dress gives you a sense of confidence going into competition," said Women's Basketball Coach Ann Gilbert. "If you look good, you feel good."

Gilbert says she does have a dress code for her team. At certain away games, everyone wears their warm-up uniforms. At others, students can dress casually, but must look nice.

Other coaches have similar expectations for their team members. Women's Soccer Coach Blake New and Women's Field Hockey and Lacrosse Coach Mindy Manolovich both ask their athletes to wear something with Oberlin printed on it to away games. They also ask their athletes to look nice -- no jeans with holes in them. New requires a shirt with a collar. On the field, Manolovich requires headbands of the same color and matching socks.

"My whole thing," New said, "is that when we're on the road we don't realize how many impressions we make on outside people." He said that if members of his team look like a bunch of slobs, they present a negative impression of Oberlin.

"I think it's a reasonable expectation to look nice," said Chris Barker, men's soccer and tennis coach. Barker said that sometimes you have to work on an athletes' definition of nice. He said that if an athlete came out to play "just trashy looking," he'd probably talk to them about it.

Junior Josh Davis, a member of the men's swimming team, said Coach Dick Michaels has "no standards whatsoever."

"He enjoys us doing freaky things," Davis said. Davis said that a few years before he arrived on campus a member of the men's swim team dyed his entire body blue.

When asked if there was a standard of appearance for members of the cross country team, senior Kit Wells said, "I can't really say that there is one."

The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) has certain rules about appearance, most of them for safety reasons. In soccer, socks have to be pulled up over shin-guards. Jewelry is not allowed. In contact sports, shirts have to be tucked in. And players must wear their uniforms, of course.

Many athletes think their coaches requests are reasonable. "None of us think of it as a hassle," senior Jessica Resnick, a member of the field hockey and lacrosse teams, said of Manolovich's standards.

Resnick said that dressing well on game days contributes to the team's mentality. "It's about taking yourself seriously. It's about taking your sport seriously when you're on the field," she said. "Athletes should act in the best interests of the team. It's not to suppress individuality, but to encourage team ethic."

Manolovich said, "It's important not to have a player stand out and make it easier for the opposition to define them. It's not about hiding talent, but defining."

She said, "It's a privelege and an honor to play on a team. It's not something you should expect to be a part of."

New, Gilbert and Manolovich tell their athletes what to expect at the beginning of the season. "The girls understand from the beginning what is and isn't acceptable," New said. He said he tells his athletes that when they're away from the team they can express themselves as individuals, but for the two months they play together, they are a team.

"I think it's important to establish what the boundaries are," Gilbert said. "I don't think it's fair for athletes to deviate from boundaries once they are set."

For most athletes and coaches, dress has never been an issue. Wells said that cross country runners wear whatever is comfortable. "Let's face it," Wells said. "We're adults. We can handle ourselves."

Wells added that other sports, such as baseball, have a certain form to them, whereas cross country is not a spectator sport. "We don't have to meet other's expectations," Wells said. "Runners tend to be a little more individualistic."

Wells remembered the time members of the women's cross country team showed up for the team picture with their hair all in pigtails and their socks pulled up to their knees. Wells said the picture was cropped.

Wells said dress doesn't really concern him personally. "I don't care," Wells said. "I try to run by people as fast as I can. It's better if [members of other teams] don't see me."

First-year Jesse Morse, a member of the men's basketball team, is one of the few athletes who has specifically been addressed about his appearance. Men's Basketball Coach Miguel Curl suggested Morse cut his hair and trim his beard. "He didn't say I had to," Morse said, adding that he did get the advised haircut. After his hair grew back, Morse said Curl suggested he get it cut again, near the end of the season.

Morse said he cut his hair partly because Curl asked him to, and partly because it's harder to see open passes with longer hair. Morse said he feels that hair is more of an issue in basketball than it is in a sport such as baseball because baseball players wear caps, which prevents hair from falling into their eyes.

Morse said he didn't have a problem with Curl's suggestion. "It didn't bother me at all," he said. "It would bother me if he kicked me off [the team]. But I wouldn't want to make a scene. It's hair. It grows back." He said he can understand where a coach is coming from when he asks him to cut his hair.

Sophomore Jabali Sawicki, a member of the men's basketball team, cut his dreadlocks off midway through the season, but for practical reasons, and not because Curl asked him to. "They were hot," Sawicki said. Curl never spoke to Sawicki about his dreadlocks.

Sawicki said he thinks he was cut from the team his first year because former Men's Basketball Gene DeLorenzo did not like his dreadlocks. "Last year's basketball coach definitely had a certain appearance he felt the team needed to keep and I definitely didn't fit that," Sawicki, who received a fair amount of playing time this year, said.

He added, "I think it's been made apparent that I should have made the team last year."

"[Curl] was more concerned with how I played than how I looked," Sawicki said.

Most athletes don't find appearance a very serious concern. "Typically Oberlin is scruffier than other schools," Wells said, adding that he has "serious respect for Earlham. They've got serious beards and hair."

Davis said, "I don't support any kind of dress code." The Men's Swim team has a tradition of dressing as "freaks," Davis said. Every year the team hosts a team-only bowling tournament, the Swamp Rat Bowling Classic. Though members of the team are supposed to dress as bowlers, they show up in fairly weird outfits. "There's a lot of polyester," Davis said.

"For the most part I try to look presentable," said senior Daryl Seldon, a member of the men's basketball team.

Still, athletes find ways to express themselves on the field. Junior Alysia Oakley, a member of the women's soccer and lacrosse teams, is known for wearing socks with unusual patterns or designs on them. Because she's a goalie, the socks aren't visible. "I'm allowed to [wear my socks] too, and it's beautiful," Oakley said.

Resnick, one of Oakley's lacrosse teammates said, "Lots of times you can't see [the socks]. But we know they're there."