The Charlatan, Carleton's Independent Student Newspaper - Feb 8, 2007

Sorority girls make mark on intramural league

This semester, Carleton’s intramural flag football league has a new addition. The Alpha Omicron Pi (AOP) sorority girls, led by team captain Kailey Gervais, have put together an all-women team to promote the sport to females at Carleton.

When first-year student Kailey Gervais signed up as an individual player for football intramurals earlier this year, she did so regardless of the fact that it was an all-male league.

But her spirit was soon crushed.

“After four games I hadn’t touched the ball once and I wasn’t having fun,” said Gervais. It was then that she made the decision to quietly drop out of the league. “I still wanted to play football though, so I approached the girls in my sorority, AOP, and they were more than happy to rally behind me,” said Gervais.

The AOP team has played two games so far this season and although they lost both, Gervais remains positive.

“A lot of the girls have never played football before so it’s been hard, but we scored points in our last game, which was really great,” said Gervais.

The team not only plays in the league, but they also have weekly practices and get help from another Carleton student, Sean Petrie, who acts as their coach.

“I was sick of hearing the guys in the league putting down the girls,” said Petrie.

“The girls are awfully energetic and know how to set realistic goals. They are here to have fun, which is what the intramurals are all about.” “The more we play the more we strive to be better,” said Sara Korajian, AOP sorority president. “We’re definitely going to be making this football team an annual tradition and showing the guys that we can play.”

The team also has the support of Chris Surgeoner, Carleton’s intramurals and competitive clubs co-ordinator.

Although he is new to his position, Surgeoner is already making a difference to the university’s intramural programs and their availability to females. “To be honest, I’ve never received complaints about unfairness in our teams,” said Surgeoner. “[Gervais] is definitely a ground-breaking player and we’re delighted to have her in the league.”

Still, Surgeoner said he is trying to “get a gender balance” in intramural sports dominated by males. Since arriving at Carleton earlier this year he has changed the men’s flag football and the men’s ball hockey leagues into the flag football and the ball hockey leagues because there are no alternative female leagues.

“The more that we can do to encourage females to play, the better,” said Surgeoner. “I believe that it is a great idea to change the league’s name into the flag football league.” Under the leadership of Surgeoner, the intramurals program continues to live up to its mandate of fun, sportsmanship and equality.

“Surgeoner has been really supportive and the fact that he changed the league name is incredible,” said Gervais. “This is exactly what we were looking to achieve.”