The Indiana University Women’s Basketball team recently traveled to compete in the Las Vegas Invitational. This was predicted to be like any other college tournament, however it was far from perfect, and was a massive letdown for the IU team. They were not left disappointed by a loss, the Hoosiers actually won both games, but they were left frustrated by the nature of the tournament. The major frustration came from the fact that the players were told they would be playing on a state of the art court, but instead, were left to play on an adapted court that was placed in an empty ballroom. There was no room for fans, and the court itself caused many injuries. Not only did many injuries occur, but there was also a shortage of medical staff to help the injured players. After an Auburn University player was hurt, it took over 30 minutes of game time to get an EMT to come and help her. Many saw this event as a setback for women’s sports, and an incredibly disrespectful action. 

“I think it’s unfair that those were the conditions they were playing in. Women work just as hard as men in sports and deserve to be treated equally, and this was definitely not equal treatment.” -Senior, Grace McKay

“When I heard about this it made me very upset, especially the fact that there were no EMT’s. This has been a problem in the past and it’s been very unfortunate that no one has taken action and they are saying something, but no one is listening. If they saw the problem for what it actually is, they could resolve it and actually take action.” -Sophomore Molli Lucas

“It’s annoying honestly. Had I been either playing or as a coach I would have felt just super disrespected. I think that’s the biggest thing; it just feels disrespectful. The fact that it was in a ballroom isn’t the issue, it’s the fact that they didn’t make any effort to make it look like an actual venue, they just plopped a floor down and pulled out some TV screens.” -Teacher and Coach Mrs. Whitehead

“It is frustrating for sure. The big argument is that men have games in ballrooms too but if you look at their setup they still have stadium seats or real scoreboards, and it was bad seeing TV’s used as scoreboards for the women. And hearing how they had to cover an Auburn player’s injury with a towel, and how they had to wait like 45 minutes for an ambulance to show up, that was pretty sad too.” -Senior, Caitlin Heim