A Tall Tale on the Beach Haven Courts

by Bill Kapler

I actually have my own story about women and sports.   I grew up in Beach Haven, a small town along the New Jersey coast, which was a great summer resort but isolated for the other 10 months in the winter.  Throughout high school and college (Princeton), I had my first and only competitive contact with a woman athlete in my home town.  The place to play ball was the Beach Haven courts (I like to tell my kids they were called Kapler Courts, but even they didn’t believe me!!!).  Colleen Lambert, 4-5 years younger than I was and the daughter of my JV coach and gym teacher, was always playing basketball and had developed one of the best shots in town.  However, we didn’t let her play when there were full guy teams available.  She only played with the guys when we needed another player.  I guess it was only a little better than John Games* (but at least we let her play!!).  She was the only girl I ever played against until probably the mid to late 80’s. 

My second encounter of the female kind was dramatically different.  As you know, Princeton University from 1969 – 1973 was not much of a co-educational experience (although having a couple hundred girls around was better than all male) and there were limited opportunities to compete with women in sports.  My second encounter was in Beach Haven again.  This time, I went to the same local basketball courts and was waiting to get into the game.  The game in progress had 10 players including one of the best looking blonde girls I had ever seen.  When the game was over 9 people left and only the blonde remained.   Needless to say, she suggested we go to her place.  Oops that was me dreaming!!!!   She suggested we go to another set of courts farther up the island.   When we got to those courts, there was a game in progress and another woman was playing.  This woman was a little different; she was 6’ 8” – my height.   We picked teams, and I was on the team with the 2 women.  We then went on to win the next game and finish the evening as winners.  I later learned the blonde was on an Olympic try out team and the other woman was a former Penn State All American.  She apparently was on vacation with her brothers (one 7’, one 6’10” and the little 6’8” brother).  To this day I wonder what would have happened if I had to play against the 6’ 8” woman.   I was known more as a banger and physical player versus a finesse player.  And I was wondering if I would have been able to be physical, since I would have had to push her around, big time, and she was not that big weight-wise..We will never know.

What I do know is that Title IX has done a lot to bring women into sports, and since then I have enjoyed competing (mostly just personal versus something organized) against women in things ranging from cycling, tennis, squash, running, and even a basketball game with refs.  For a college athlete, it opens up a whole new dimension to share with someone.  My wife is an avid sports fan and participant, which I enjoy immensely. 

Reading your BLOG made me reflect on my changing perspective over the years from my particular viewpoint as a former Division 1 basketball player.  

[Digressing- This viewpoint is different since you have developed some skills that are fairly advanced, and you do wind up being very selective about where you play and against whom (e.g.  you try to find places where the caliber of play is at your level versus “wasting your time with beginners"). Of course, you now have just the opposite view when you take up a new sport where you have no hope of attaining that level of accomplishment (e.g. golf or tennis), where you don’t want to bother trying to play with a college level person because of fear of bringing their game down.] 

In the basketball situation, I found myself being exposed to something new, that was very different from what I had seen when I was developing my skills and averaging two hours a day on the courts.  Even for someone who is very adaptable and willing to try new things, it is a reminder of how change, of any type, is difficult.  

Needless to say I also coached my daughters in basketball and played against them in their practices.  It was very rewarding.  That could be a whole other story though.

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