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2007 Winners - Sports (2nd place)
Five quit team, cry coaching foul
By Amit Shilton
Eyeopener, August 30, 2006 (Ryerson University)
She is Ryerson’s reigning female athlete of the year. She’s a former MVP of the women’s basketball team and a five-time female athlete of the week. This was supposed to be the year for Amanda Redhead and the women’s basketball team.
But now the all-star forward has decided to call it quits in her final year, along with four of her teammates, and file a formal complaint against head coach Sandra Pothier, accusing her of repeatedly making culturally insensitive remarks towards her players.
Josephine Agudo, 22, Julia Ounphongxay, 19, Vanessa Smardenka, 21, Danielle Williams, 18, and Redhead, 24, resigned from the team at different intervals throughout August, vowing only to return if the university fires Pothier.
Pothier has been ordered by Ryerson officials not to comment about any allegations while an investigation is underway – leaving her side of the story untold. But she did have high praises for the basketball prodigy, Redhead.
“I think Amanda is a great player and I have a lot of respect for her work ethic and I don’t have anything negative to say about Amanda,” Pothier said.
However, Redhead has a different view of Pothier, who has coached the team for 15 years. The former women’s national team scout coached Ryerson to a 17-49 record during Redhead’s time at Ryerson.
The conflict reached its peak during a player-coach meeting on July 26. Redhead has charged that in their meeting, Pothier said that because of Redhead’s black heritage, she respects the suggestions of male authority figures more than their female counterparts due to the prevalence of single parent families in the black community. It was the last straw in a three-year battle that has only gotten worse.
“I took that to heart,” she said. “When you lose respect for someone, you can’t play for them. It doesn’t matter whether or not you don’t like them, you have to have a certain respect for them and obviously she doesn’t have respect for who I am … So I said, you know what, ‘F’ it, I’m quitting.”
Two weeks after Pothier allegedly made the comments to Redhead, Ounphongxay confronted the coach. Pothier defended herself, asking the player if she would take offence to the statement that all Asian people are sheltered and hide their feelings, Ounphongxay said.
“When we play we represent our coach,” said Ounphongxay, adding she doesn’t feel she can represent Pothier. Ounphongxay said she “didn’t grow up like every Asian kid” and doesn’t appreciate the generalization.
Terry Haggerty, manager of interuniversity sports, isn’t willing to confirm or deny the allegations against his women’s basketball coach.
“You’re really going to get a ‘no comment’ from anybody here,” Haggerty said. “That’s an investigation completely separate from us and we don’t interfere with the process.”
David Dubois, director of sports and recreation, would only say that to his knowledge, there has never been any “big complaint or issue” with Pothier.
But the Eyeopener has learned that similar allegations were made in 2001 and 2003. In 2001, a formal plan to settle issues between coach and players was developed by Dubois and Pothier.
Victoria Owusu-Ampong, a former Rams women’s basketball player, said in a statement to the Eyeopener that Pothier was often the source of conflicts within the team.
Other coaches dismissed the alleged infighting, saying tension is a part of any team.
“That’s going to happen in any setting whether that’s a basketball team, an office or a family,” said assistant coach Jason Andrade. “There’s always going to be people that drift off together for whatever reasons “
For Redhead, unity is the most important element to having a successful team.
“We’re a team, and we’re playing against another school, we have to show that we’re together,” Redhead said.
“On any team there’s going to be some type of trouble, it’s not going to be perfect … for me, it’s after three years and I’m just like, enough is enough.”
Pothier is respected by many around the league for her experience with the women’s game.
Brad Schur, Royal Military College’s women’s basketball coach, has watched Pothier from across the court for the past five years and holds her in high regard.
“I started on the men’s side so she’s kind of helped me get my feet on the ground so to speak on the women’s side. She’s always been a great help that way, getting used to the women’s game and helping to get to know people,” Schur said.
Pothier and the players are still waiting for a resolution before the season begins in early November. Since the complaint was filed, neither side has received any definitive answers from legal counsel. But Williams, who averaged 12.4 minutes per game last season, just wants to play again.
“I’ve been playing basketball for 10 years of my life,” she said. “Every single year I’ve never had a break. That’s what I do, I play basketball and I go to school. And this year, I’m only going to school. It just hurts that something I love has to go.”
And Redhead, who is entering her final year in public administration and governance, wants the issue resolved so she can find her way back to the courts again.
“As a player, I’m so agitated because I know all of us we love basketball and we all work hard,” said Redhead.
“And the thing that really, really agitates me is that this is not the first time… But why doesn’t anybody do anything about it? No one says anything. Everybody’s scared. Scare
