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GIRL POWER: Strength, conditioning draw earlier emphasis

BY JOANNA CHADWICK

The Wichita Eagle

When Newton's Camri Zwiesler was a freshman, she got her first recruiting letter from a Division I volleyball program. While thrilled, it was also the moment she decided to improve her strength and physique.

"I knew Division I athletes were exceptional athletes, and basically I needed to get stronger and more agile," said Zwiesler, a senior at Newton who has signed to play at Arizona State.

Zwiesler is a perfect example of how female athletes have changed. The days of just placing a big girl in the paint in basketball or as a middle hitter in volleyball are disappearing.

Look around the Wichita area and you'll see more and more female athletes with toned, athletic bodies. That's thanks to an increased focus on strength and conditioning at the high school and college level.

More athletes, especially in volleyball and basketball, are more agile, powerful and quicker than those of even a decade ago.

"I think probably in the last decade, there's been an emphasis on females being comfortable with what it means to be athletic, with what it means to be physically fit and strong and physical," Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard said.

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Wichita State women's basketball coach Jane Albright remembers her time as a physical education teacher in South Carolina in the late 1970s, when the girls watched the boys running around.

It's not that way anymore.

"The good change is that little girls play early and run and jump because of the opportunity to play Little League or soccer," Albright said. "They're running and jumping and learning to do that when they are 6 to 9 years old instead of 14."

The result is clear to Wichita State strength and conditioning coach Kerry Rosenboom. Incoming freshmen are more in shape, and they've been exposed to a higher level of weight training.

More girls also are focused on playing beyond high school, which means more are finding ways to get an edge.

"It gives you an advantage if other teams aren't doing as much," said Heights senior basketball player Amanda Orloske, who has not only become stronger and more powerful but is faster and jumps better from lifting. "But you have to do it to keep up with everybody who is (lifting)."

KU's Bechard said more information is available to girls at an earlier age on what it takes to be a Division I athlete.

Girls also specialize, playing a single sport year round, so they can train specifically for that sport.

Athletes also are involved in offseason conditioning, school weight training classes and working with personal trainers.

High school coaches have changed their regimens, too.

"When I was first hired at Maize (20 years ago as a softball coach), girls did not step into the weight room," Maize volleyball coach Teri Larson said. "Now we do weight lifting and conditioning in the summer. We do plyometrics."

The physical changes mean athletes become more toned, able to move quicker laterally and increase their stamina.

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An increased focus on strength and conditioning is assisted by a changing view of how female athletes should look. Just because a girl lifts weights doesn't mean she'll resemble a boy or lose her femininity.

While Albright said she still has to convince some basketball players that weight training is a necessity, many see it as a way to improve their game - and look good doing it.

It was athletes such as former WSU volleyball player Andee Hartig that Rosenboom's daughter, Kayla, a Bishop Carroll libero who signed with Missouri State, looked up to.

"Before, if you were playing a sport, you were more of a jock, but now, they can see they are young ladies that are very good athletes and very good in the classroom," Kerry Rosenboom said.

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Regardless of the changing attitudes and practices of female high school athletes, not everyone is ready physically to play at the collegiate level.

"There's a different strength from high school to college," Rosenboom said. "Maybe they aren't physically ready yet, but they are making the transition to be a college athlete better."

But because they aren't quite ready, collegiate strength and conditioning coaches start every athlete at the same level.

"We start fresh with them," Kansas associate director of strength and conditioning Andrea Hudy said of incoming athletes. "We all start - we call it a chronological training - at zero. They might have good training or not."

And there are different kinds of strength training and conditioning that are based on body types.

There's definitely room for the thicker athlete; not everyone must look like the lean Zwiesler.

Take Oklahoma junior center Courtney Paris, who is 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds. She's big, but she can move and she's able to dominate the paint with her strength.

There's no doubt, though, that coaches, such as Wichita State volleyball coach Chris Lamb, lean toward a specific type of athlete, regardless of size.

"We're looking for bodies and training bodies to be strong and fast," Lamb said. "We're trying to get power. Muscle weighs more than fat, so we're looking for movement and speed and power."

Joanna Chadwick covers high school sports. Reach her at 316-268-6270 or jchadwick@wichitaeagle.com.