Athletes in Sororities
 

I'm curious about athletes in sororities.

Do chapters welcome the opportunity to have a member of a sports team as a sister? OR, are athletes viewed as more committed to the sport (especially at DI and DII schools where scholarship money is involved) and not seen as desirable?

Do coaches discourage, or outright ban, the athletes from participating in other potentially time consuming activities?

I know there are examples of sorority women who were able to balance both - the gymnast at UGA who was an AOII, but wonder how common this is?

It really depends on the school and the coach. We had a member of the women's golf team in our chapter and DG had a member of the women's tennis team. Kappa Sigma had quite a few athletes at that time too: wrestling, baseball, track. Bobby Knight did not allow basketball players to pledge. There were football players who were Kappas, Alphas, Ques, and Sigmas. Kappas used to have a house on Greek row, my school is their Alpha Chapter.

At the campus where I advise, the sororities really like having athletes. The issues there center more around the coaches, who are mostly hostile towards Greek life. We've had a couple of sisters who quit their sports because of this in the past. It's really too bad the coaches feel that way.

At Georgetown when I was there, only the NPHC and NALFO orgs had a presence. It is my understanding that the women's basketball coach forbade their players from joining a sorority, though one did it anyway her senior year.

Now that there are two NPCs "on campus" and a Campus Panhellenic Council, I am curious to see how this pans out for athletes.

Like IndianaSigKap, Georgetown's football team had more Greeks than men's basketball. The only Greek basketball player I know is Alonzo Mourning, and that happened well after graduation.

At UCLA, there was prestige associated with being an athlete. Not many came through recruitment, but we liked to get them when we could!

The chapter I advise has (or has had) several athletes, FWIW.

Our chapter has two athletes: one soccer player, one basketball player. They joined through COB.

Even though we're a DII school, the coaches are still hard on the athletes. They don't like having them join sororities, because they rather the girls bond with their teammates. But lots of soccer girls join the local service sorority.

At UCLA, more athletes came thru recruitment this year. DG pledged a volleyball player & so did another house (wanna say Kappa). Chi O pledged a tennis player. There are some crew members who are in sororities. But I know some coaches highly discourage it. I've tried to promote it to the varsity soccer girls I know (about a dozen), but no luck. I don't think anyone on the UCLA women's soccer, softball or gymnastic teams are in sororitites (those teams have won national championships in very recent years). The last UCLA gymnast in a sorority may have been Kerri Strug (Theta).

At Tulsa University, The coaches were banning it so I researched famous athletes who are Greek (fraternities & sororities) specific to the GLOs at TU for the Director of Greek Life to discuss with the coaches of the women's teams, including 4 famous Athletes from TU.

I know a few from back home, mainly D3 schools who are in sororities. I think it's more of a problem (obviously) when it's during season.

My chapter had a couple softball players, a track member and the golden girl (arguably an athlete, right?). I went to Iowa, so Big 10. I would think they would be seen as a prestige "get" but that may vary based on chapter and how willing they are to waive attendance at otherwise mandatory events. Their scholarships have to take precedence over chapter or social events. Even rush.

Bob Knight must have changed his policy by spring 1992 - Alan Henderson and Chris Reynolds both pledged Kappa Alpha Psi that semester. : )

My college gymnastics coach absolutely forbade us from going through rush. By the way, Kerri Strug was not actually a competitive member of the gymnastics team at UCLA-don't know if she was the manager or helped coach. She had gone "pro" and was not eligible to compete in the NCAA.

There are several athletes in one of the chapters I advise (D3)

When I was in school, we had a member of the gymnastics team, two members of the women's golf team, a swimmer, a softball player and 2/3 of the tennis team in our chapter. The coaches seemed to be understanding of sorority commitments and our chapter was obviously understanding of sports commitments. I think we had more athletes than most chapters, however.

There weren't as many athletes in fraternities, but I knew of a few.

At my husband's DIII school, it was very common for athletes to be in fraternities/sororities. He says that certain chapters tended to pledge guys from certain sports, even.

I'd say it depends on the Division of competition.

FWIW - A number of the Olympic athletes who were on teams at Stanford were also members of sororities.

And although you asked about sororities, I have an observation about fraternities. In looking through pre 1970 fraternity magazines, a goodly number of fraternity men played football, even at D-1 schools. Now when football team members are featured, they usually play for D-3 or NAIA schools.