There are some formidable female college basketball teams in the United States. To prepare for them, the UCLA women’s basketball squad needs a little something extra to toughen themselves up for game time — so they practice against men.
When it’s practice time at Pauley Pavilion, the members of UCLA’s women’s basketball team find themselves scrimmaging against some pretty formidable-looking opponents. There’s “Candace Parker,” star forward for the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, appearing unusually muscular and macho. Or “Briann January,” point guard for the Arizona State University Sun Devils, looking like she could use a shave.
There’s no need to break out the Nair, however. “Candace” and “Briann” are actually men — full-time UCLA students, as a matter of fact — who play a critical role as members of the Lady Bruins’ “scout” team.
In college and in the pros, scout teams are comprised of non-starters on football and basketball squads who mimic upcoming opponents so that the starters can practice against the kind of playing style they’ll be facing in the real game. For some collegiate women’s basketball programs, that’s a man’s job. So six days a week, the members of our intrepid male scout team offer themselves up as practice partners for the female Bruin hoopsters, participating in their drills, watching game films of other teams and assuming the roles of opposing players such as Parker and January.
“These guys, they help us so much,” says Head Coach Kathy Olivier. “They’re stronger and they’re quick, and they really take pride in making our players better. They love seeing improvement. They’re a big part of our success.”
So dedicated are these dudes that they’ll show up for practice even when they’re hurt. Junior Jon Silver, a history major minoring in political science, tore his MCL playing pickup basketball in the Wooden Center. Yet he shows up to almost every practice. “I’ll be here most days, whether I can play or not,” Silver says. “I’m trying to pick up some things on the players that might help me later to help them.”
The complicated task of finding guys to play on the scout team falls on the shoulders of team manager Marvin Hamlin, a fifth-year anthropology major who combs the Wooden Center for potential recruits. Currently he’s got 13 guys on the roster, but he constantly has to deal with conflicting class schedules and injuries.
“I watch guys play in the Wooden Center and try to find what the women’s team is looking for,” Hamlin says. “Quick point guards. Big guys on the inside. People who are fundamentally sound and who can run a play. Guys who played in high school and are in reasonably good shape.”
He laughs. “We’re very selective here on the women’s scout team.”
And with good reason. Once chosen for the scout team, players are bound by the same rules as NCAA student-athletes and must sign drug-testing forms and pass a physical with the Athletic Department’s training staff. Then there are other rules that Hamlin lays out for the guys: No cursing. No talking trash. No egos. And no dunking.
Scout team member Dave Updegrove, a third-year student majoring in history and business economics, learned very quickly that while the women’s ears may be delicate, their playing style isn’t.
“I play against some of the centers who are 6’6”, 200 pounds, and if you hold back, they’re going to make you look like a fool,” Updegrove says. “At first it was a weird dynamic, because I’d never played against girls in basketball. But then you get in there and they give you your first elbow to the face, and you say, ‘All right, let’s play!’”
Senior Joel Jackson finds that he sometimes has to explain to friends why he enjoys being on the scout team. “Some guys look at you, like, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with you? You’re playing with women,’” says the philosophy/accounting major. “But they don’t know that not only can I beat them, but some of these women can beat them as well.”
The practice of using men is quite prevalent with women’s basketball teams across the country, according to UCLA Associate Athletic Director and Senior Women’s Administrator Petrina Long. Yet the use of male scout teams has become quite a controversial topic between the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics — which worried that the practice took away opportunities for women — and many women’s coaches, who argued that it actually benefited all the female players on a roster. Currently, there’s a truce between the two groups, Long said.
The UCLA women, meanwhile, can’t say enough good things about their guys. Sophomore point guard Allison Taka says, “They’re so great! They’re really smart, too. Some of them are double majoring, so they’re just as busy as we are, sometimes busier, and they make the time to come out. And they don’t get anything for it, really. They’re not on scholarship; they just come out to help us. And they’re so nice about it.”
Senior forward Lindsey Pluimer notes the small, but equally significant, tangibles the guys bring, such as muffins to practice or “Taco Night” on Wednesdays, and the fact that they come to all the women’s local games and even to some away games.
But it’s in practices where the guys are most beneficial. “They have definitely helped us. The speed and the strength are completely different,” says Erica Tukiainen, a sophomore guard/forward. “You’re not going to see that on the women’s level, so if you practice harder, the games are going to be easier.”
There is no glory for the men on the scout team, nor is there any monetary payment. “These are kids with full academic loads, and all we’re able to give them is shoes and gear to practice in,” says Assistant Coach Pam Walker ’85, M.Ed. ’90. “Literally, the things that we’re able to do for them are limited, but the things that they are able to give us are limitless. And I think that’s just awesome.”
