Q: What led or motivated you to play sports?

A: My family belonged to a summer swim and tennis club where everyone learned to swim at an early age and almost every kid was a member of the swim team. My brother and I were both avid swimmers, and eventually my brother tried out for the club's diving team - for a change of pace - and so naturally I had to try it, too. Soon we both gave up swimming and focused exclusively on diving. We attended summer diving camps and when I was 11 years old we started training year-round. I continued diving because it made me feel good about myself that I had something to do outside of school and studying. I felt this way about sports throughout high school and college.

Q: What did it mean to you when Title IX was passed?

A: When Title IX passed, I was a freshman in high school, attending a small prep school in New Jersey called Newark Academy, which a year earlier had turned co-ed. I am not sure if Title IX played a proactive role, but my school always enthusiastically embraced girls' sports, adding girls' varsity teams to match the boys' sports programs in a timely fashion. In my opinion, the school was trying to attract top-quality female applicants, so having a well-rounded girls' varsity sports program was very significant. At my prep school, I played varsity field hockey in addition to being on the swimming and diving team. Although we did not have all the sports teams back then that the school now has, the administration was supportive of our fledgling programs.

Q: What adversity did you encounter, if any at your school to play your sport(s)?

A: When I decided to attend Barnard in 1976, I had an understanding with Columbia College that I would train with the men's diving coach, Jim Stillson. In fact, I had been driving into the City during my senior year in high school to train with Jim at the Columbia pool. My coach became the diving coach for both Columbia and Barnard and we trained together. (Columbia College went co-ed a few years after I graduated.) Because of this cooperative arrangement, I encountered no adversity in college to play my sport. Thank goodness I didn't have to practice diving at Barnard's pool because it had no diving board!

Q: What pressures, if any, were you feeling during that time?

A: Columbia currently has a well-established, very competitive women's swim program, with team members from both Columbia and Barnard. When I attended Barnard, Columbia College was not yet co-ed, and there was no recognized consortium between the schools to pool athletic resources for women's teams or to take advantage of Title IX. Barnard was made up of "walk-on" swimmers and at the very bottom of the Ivy League standings. If I felt any pressure regarding Title IX, it was that it was more helpful to my female competitors who attended co-ed educational institutions.

Q: When did you realize the importance of what you were a part of, being in the Title IX era?

A: I remember being inspired by the idea of Title IX in high school and college, and even in a pre-consortium setting, Barnard and Columbia were both extremely supportive of me in my individual diving endeavours, above and beyond my membership on a women's varsity team. Diving is a unique individual sport, not a classic team sport by any means. My support system in college initially came from the wonderful athletic director at Barnard and her willingness to seek cooperation from Columbia's athletic department on my behalf and for our swim team.

Q: What was the most memorable experience for you?

A: My fondest personal "sports" memory from college is when as a freshman I placed at national AIAW's (now the NCAA's) and Barnard was posted on the team scoreboard at Brown's swim arena.

Q: In your opinion, what was the most gratifying moment in women's sports in general?

A: I have always been a big fan of the Olympic Games, and I think the prominence and recognition of women's individual and team sports in the Olympics has been very important, as well as the recent addition for women of traditionally male sports, like weight lifting and the bobsleigh. Wide recognition of successes in women's World Cup and professional soccer and in the WNBA has also been important for women's sports. The following observation was reported the other day in the New York Times regarding the Duke versus Connecticut women's NCAA basketball game: "The game was played before national television audience on ESPN2 and a standing room only crowd of 9,314 at Cameron indoor stadium, the first time the arena had been sold out for a women's game." Wow!

Q: Even with sports like women's pro becoming so popular in America, women's sports still do not garner the same attention as men's sports. What responsibility should athletes and women in general have to the growth of women's sports in America?

A: We should strive to understand and protect Title IX because of all it has accomplished for girls and women in sports. Title IX is currently on the defense, and that means we need to sort out myth from reality and be wary of typical arguments embracing the notion that Title IX is harmful to men's sports. Title IX has been the source of an athletic boom for women, but not at the expense of men's programs. By supporting Title IX, we support the chance for girls to play almost any sport they desire.

Q: What is your hope for the future of women's sports?

A: I have two boys who play local youth soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey. In our community, girls have the opportunity to play the same sports at the same competitive levels. This is a very big change from when I was growing up. My hope for women's sports is that this trend continues. In addition, girls should be encouraged to participate in sports because it is undeniably positive for their immediate self-esteem and long-term personal health.