I will not be trying out for the 2019 Aviators Season
by Stephanie Pritchard and Ronnie Eder
In 2018, Stephanie Pritchard and Ronnie Eder were rostered by the Los Angeles Aviators, a professional ultimate frisbee team that competes in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). This was the first time, in its 4 years of existence, that the Aviators Organization rostered women.
The following is a detailed account of their experience on the team.
“What was it like playing for the Aviators?”
“How difficult was it to be a woman on a men’s professional team?”
“Are you going to tryout for the 2019 Aviators Season?”
We’ve been asked variations of these questions more times than we can count — hundreds at this point. And each time, we’ve taken it in stride. Lightly stating, “That’s a complicated question. There are many factors at play. I enjoyed it but…” Silently gauging, “How much time do we have to get into this? How much do they really want to know? How much will they understand?”
With the 2019 Aviators season quickly approaching, we’ve decided to share our experiences (both positive and negative) and to answer the questions we’ve been asked so many times.
In order to do so, we’ve broken down our time with the Aviators into a list of pros and cons that vary from specific moments in time to general feelings of success and struggle.
It is our hope that this account of our experiences will spark change for the experiences of all women in our sport — in every league, on every field.
Before we get into the details though, we’d like to note that this is not an all-inclusive report of the season, but rather an account of our own experiences— and in this, we have ‘best perspective.’
PROS
Gaining and Strengthening Friendships — Simply put, spending time with friends / making new friends was fun.
Feeling Supported — Our teammates were truly supportive of us. They made it apparent that they appreciated our presence on the sideline and that they respected us on the field.
Developing Better Ultimate Skills / IQ — Playing in the AUDL, with new teammates, in a new system, widened our understanding of the game and improved the physicality of our play.
Inspiring Girls — Seeing girls on our sidelines, asking for autographs and being engaged with what was happening on the field reminded us that we were holding space for women on the field.
Gaining Experience — Prior to playing in the AUDL, we could not contribute in discussions about the difference between referees or observers. Prior to playing in the AUDL, we could not accurately articulate the pros and cons of weekly matches as compared to tournament play.
CONS
Creating Division Among Women — We ruffled feathers within the women’s ultimate community. We were negatively judged for our participation by some and felt unsupported by many.
Balancing Commitments — Prioritizing time to prove commitments to our women’s club team (that, generally speaking, did not support the Aviators), while also trying to earn playing time for the Aviators was more difficult than we could have imagined.
Playing for Women Everywhere — When we stepped onto the field, we felt as though we couldn’t mess up. For fear of making ourselves look bad, but more so, for fear of making women everywhere look bad.
Patterns of Broken Trust — Despite promises of progress, from the field to the front office, the Aviators Organization seemed uninterested in any genuine effort to advance Gender Equity. They were given many opportunities (detailed here) and the silence was deafening.
- An ‘Aviators’ Gender Equity Plan for the LA Ultimate Community’ was promised, but never released or acted on (despite our efforts)
- ‘Gender Equity Training’ for the team was promised but never scheduled (despite our efforts)
- Money saved by the organization by significantly reducing player salaries was used for marketing purposes alone (despite ownership stating that it would also be earmarked for gender equity efforts and youth ultimate development)
Patterns of Exclusion — At an organizational level, it was never acknowledged that there were women on the team — that it wasn’t a just men’s team any longer — and that, in order to be inclusive of all, team culture, communication and logistics needed to change. Here are several examples:
Throughout the season, there were many instances of exclusive language. Sometimes, that language was caught and adjusted.
In our player communication group, there was conversation about a teammate getting ‘puss’ while traveling abroad.
We didn’t contribute.
In a game against another team playing with a rostered woman, one of our teammates justified an ill-advised throw because his receiver was being defended by a ‘girl.’
He didn’t know that we, having rushed the field to congratulate the team, were within earshot.
At the start of the season, all rostered players were given full uniform kits.
When we were rostered to play later in the season, we were loaned teammates’ uniforms to wear in games — they didn’t fit.
43 days after playing in our first game, we received our uniforms. There were four games left in the season.
At our home stadium, all team meetings took place in the men’s locker room.
In the layout of the locker room, the changing area and showers had no privacy. So after games, we sat on the floor outside the locker room until they let us know that our teammates had finished showering and the meeting was about to begin.
We never showered after home games.
With these pros and cons in mind, we return to the question, “Are you going to tryout for the 2019 Aviators Season?”
While we had many positive experiences with the team and would be willing to take on the internal and interpersonal pressures detailed above, the Aviators Organization is not equipped to handle women on the team, has consistently shown patterns of poor communication and broken trust, and does not seem to desire change.
We will not be trying out for the 2019 Aviators Season.
— Illustrations by Megan Praz
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