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Girls can run freely after all.
Rowan University refrains from wearing sports bras and clarifies its verbal policy after a student-athlete from New Jersey criticized school policy prohibiting women from wearing them as shirts during games or practices.
"The Rowan Sports Department has long enforced a verbal protocol that all athletes must wear a shirt, even during training," said university president Ali Houshmand in a statement Friday. "The verbal policy was adopted in order to maintain a level of standards in all its programs for men and women."
Houshmand explained that a recent explanation of the verbal policy to new university staff had led to an article written Thursday by Gina Capone in The Odyssey Online, in which she had violated the ban imposed by Rowan on female athletes to wear a shirtless sports bra.
"If you wear a sports bra, you have to ask for it, do not you?" Wrote Capone. "Well, according to a football player at Rowan University, this is true. I will let you know the real reason why women run with sports bras, and this is not to show our hard-earned abs. Women, whether they have a six-pack or not, run in sports bras because, frankly, it's hot outside.
LITTLE BOY & # 39; HEARTBROKEN & # 39; BECAUSE THE AIRPORT WOULD WANT TO TAKE THE SNAKE TO THEM BEFORE
Capone said that she and her teammates wore sports bras because their workouts were "demanding, challenging and vigorous" – and not at all like a way to show their bodies to their male counterparts.
"Of the 15 female Cross County women athletes from Rowan University, all believe that it is permissible to wear sports bras during training," wrote Capone. "Even girls who do not participate in shirtless races to practice still believe that other team members should be able to wear anything that gives them confidence."
The ban on practicing and competing without shirtless for male and female athletes was rooted in an "attempt to teach all our athletes certain standards," said University spokesman Joe Cardona at Cherry Hill Courier-Post.
But Rowan will now develop a written policy that allows female athletes to wear jersey-free sports bras during training, according to Houshmand's statement.
"Rowan Athletics will continue to follow the NCAA guidelines for uniforms during the competition," the statement said. "In the new formal policy, there will be no restrictions for sports bras without shirts as workout clothes. The University recognizes that if verbal policy has attempted to set standards, it may be misunderstood and not appropriate for today's coaching practices in all sports. "
Capone also accused the Rowan Sports Department of preventing the women's cross-country team from training on the university track because it "hindered the football players" who were on the field at the same time. moment.
"As if women could no longer run in sports bras, that was not enough for them, now they are no longer allowed to run on the track, point," wrote Capone. "Girls now have the mandate to run on the track of local high schools on training days."
Meanwhile, the university challenged Capone's allegation in a separate statement, claiming that it had simply misrepresented itself. According to the statement of the university, only one team can use one facility at a time.
"During the football season, the training period designated by the cross-country skiing team to use the stadium is after the use of the equipment by the I & # 39; football team, "the statement said. "Preferring not to schedule training later in the day, the Cross Country coach has always offered his team to use the Glassboro High School track, just across the street from Rowan Stadium."
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Rowan's cross-country team recently discovered that Glassboro High School was locked unexpectedly, prompting him to train at the university's football stadium while the team was still.
Capone, meanwhile, said the policy change was a "step in the right direction", but remains disappointed that the athletics team should turn its training program around that of the football team.
"The purpose of my article was not to give a bad image to Rowan University," Capone told the Courier-Post. "I wanted to highlight the fact that the sports department was unfair … I hope it will raise awareness and give other women the courage to defend their beliefs."
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