Open Division Lacks Woman Power

Joyce Walker is the state of Washington’s First Lady of Ball.

She has been for two decades, but now she really looks the part - the gold earrings, the blond ‘do, a bearing that brings to mind Aretha.

She lit up high school rivals at Garfield, college opponents at LSU, played three years professionally in Europe, two on every other continent - she was a Harlem Globetrotter - and in the past six years has even been a “world champion” in 3-on-3.

This summer, she expanded her world to Hoopfest, and on Sunday won that, too.

On the downtown buzz scale, that wouldn’t match the hubbub if, say, John Stockton or Mark Hendrickson showed up on a team. But in many respects she’s as big a celebrity as Hoopfest has ever landed.

Now, if only it could land more like her.

It is hardly a cause for alarm, but one notable hiccup of Hoopfest 1998 was a rather abridged field of women in the open division, where the big dogs are supposed to hunt.

While the total number of Hoopfest teams continues to rise - to a record 4,755 this year - only 12 opted to play in the women’s open division, if not an all-time low then at least a curious trend given the booming nature of the women’s game.

“I kind of expected more teams, but I think a lot of players went down to the rec division this year,” said Jean McNulty-King of Red’s Bar of Missoula, two-time Hoopfest champions and this year’s runnerup.

All of the men’s open brackets - four for 6-foot-and-under players, three for 6-foot-and-overs - featured a full 16 teams each.

So why not the women?

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if I want to say it,” said McNulty.

Oh, go ahead.

“I just think that people want to win,” she said. “I don’t want that to sound like people can’t beat us - we have our hands full every game. These games are getting more challenging every year and if winning is what you’re here for, there’s obviously an easier route.”

This opens a whole socio-sexual can of worms that has been unsealed many times before about the varying degrees of competitiveness in men and women. Surely there’s no need equating the drop in Hoopfest open teams to, say, the University of Connecticut coach pre-arranging a free pass for his broken-legged star to break the school scoring record.

No one who watched the two women’s finals between Red’s and Walker’s Hoopaholics team should have any questions about their competitive fire.

Still, you would think that more women might like to test themselves against the best - like playing a round of golf from the blue tees, just in case you happen to be hitting it well.

“It depends on what your goals are,” said Hoopfest executive director Rick Steltenpohl. “A lot of guys play because they want a championship shirt.

I play because I like to compete and be an underdog, so I’m in a pretty tough bracket.”

Steltenpohl said he could think of other reasons for more women’s open teams to enter: “Licensed referees, center court, extra shirts, lots of fan appeal.”

Any reasons why not?

“A lot of people say it’s really rough,” said Lori Napier, an assistant coach at Whitworth who played with some former Eastern Washington teammates on Unfinished Business. “And I’ve watched some other games and they’re not as rough.”

Of course, she didn’t see the championship game in one women’s bracket where three Hoopfest marshals had to come in to keep the peace.

“I think a lot of it has to do with height - you don’t want to be a short person,” said Napier’s teammate, Jennifer Sutter, who at 5-foot-7 is, in a basketball sense. “If you don’t have someone over 6-feet, it can be pretty tough to compete.”

But you’d think you could find a few. The fact is, of the 12 open teams, only Unfinished Business was essentially a Spokane team. Four teams came from the Seattle area, one from Missoula, others from Pullman, Moses Lake and LaGrande, Ore.

Some college coaches don’t want their varsity players risking injury on the mean streets of Hoopfest. But you’d think a few alums might still have game - and still be around to show it.

Is that the difference? Do men just hang onto the game longer?

Hmm. Three of the Red’s regulars are 31 - and one of them, Lisa Tinkle, has three kids.

“When it’s something that’s been your passion,” said McNulty-King, “it’s hard to give up.”

She doesn’t have to sell that notion to Walker. She’s 35; the average age of her team is 36.

“We’re older women,” she said, allowing herself a laugh, “so we’re really glad there weren’t too many teams to go through.

“I’m not really sure why there wouldn’t be more. My friends who have played here said it’s a nice tournament to be in and it is a class act.

“This is the most competitive I can manage these days. But I also know when the ball goes up, it’s all about wanting to win. You want to have a good time and you want to be a good sport. But in my history, I’ve been spoiled with winning a lot. I don’t lose too well. And this is still a pretty good outlet for that.”