GOVS WOMEN IN ATHLETICS

Scores of Govs alumnae have chosen to pursue their passion for athletics beyond By eld as competitive players, athletic trainers, coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs. Here are a few Govs women who have chosen to pursue careers in athletics.

Julia Du ’80

A nationally rated lacrosse umpire since 2008, Du has umpired high school and collegiate games, including the NCAA Division 3 playo s. She is the first woman to have reached the national level as a player (1986) and an umpire.

Brandi Fisher ’94

As a hockey player for the University of New Hampshire, Fisher won the the inaugural prestigious NCAA Patty Kazmaier Award in 1998. She went on to play for the US National Women’s Hockey Team (1999, 2000), and is now the girls varsity hockey head coach at Thayer Academy.

Anabel Perdomo Carter ’02

Carter played basketball for the Dominican Republic Women’s National Team in 2012 and is now the mental health/performance coach for the Capital City Go-Go, an NBA G League professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C.

Amanda Webb Bowes ’04

A three-year starting soccer goalkeeper for Dartmouth College, Bowes helped the Big Green achieve a top-20 national ranking and earn a bid to the NCAA tournament (2005). Currently, she is the women’s soccer associate head coach at the University of New Hampshire.

Becca Block ’10

Block remains one of the premier defenders in women’s lacrosse. She helped lead the Orange (Syracuse University) to the national title game in 2012 and to a Final Four berth in 2010. Block is a gold medalist for the US National Women’s Lacrosse team, and is currently the women’s lacrosse associate head coach at Harvard University.

Alex Carpenter ’11

Carpenter was the first player drafted to the National Women’s Hockey League in 2015 and won the Patty Kazmaier Award the same year. She is a two-time silver medalist with the US Olympic team (2014, 2022), a five-time champion with the National Women’s Hockey League, and was named Zhenskaya Hockey League MVP in 2020.

Kat Fogarty ’13

As a first year, Fogarty helped Marist College women’s basketball win their ninth consecutive MAAC Tournament championship (2014). Later, as team captain for the women’s basketball team at the University of New Hampshire, she helped win an America East regular season championship (2017). She is currently the women’s basketball assistant coach at the College of the Holy Cross.

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# of girls athletic teams in 1973 the baseball eld during her tenure, McLain argued that the baseball eld could not be renovated unless similar work was done for the softball team. As a result, the softball eld was relocated and renovated.

Current Director of Afternoon Programs

Claudia Barcomb said advocating for female athletes is easier now than it was in the past, particularly at the secondary school level. She noted that things such as practice times, facilities, and equipment are more equitable because, at Govs today, “there are people that believe in that, which is incredibly important.”

Govs current female athletes not only have access to better facilities, equipment, and opportunities for high-level competition, but also strong adult and older-peer role models.

Over the past fty years, Govs has gone from one female coach for all the girls teams to having the majority of girls teams coached by female faculty members, with six varsity teams having women at the helm.

Govs female athletes appreciate these mentors, including their fellow students. Erin Ohlenbusch ’23 credited her teams’ captains for modeling how to meet responsibilities on the eld, the ice, and in the classroom. “Looking up to the seniors, I noticed how much time they would spend in the library in between classes… [I saw that] it’s cool to go to the library… at’s where all my friends go because we all have additional athletic commitments outside of school.”

Ohlenbusch also explained the importance of her coaches’ support of her as both an athlete and a student. When she chose to decline a eld hockey athletic scholarship in order to pursue her dream of becoming a speechwriter, she said, “I was a little nervous going to my coaches and saying, ‘After everything you’ve done for me, I’m not going to play eld hockey in college’... But to be greeted with such happiness for me was awesome… Everyone was just as supportive.’”

# of girls who have gone on to play collegiate athletics in the last 5 years (Class of 2019 to Class of 2023)

Like Ohlenbusch, Callie Batchelder ’23, a four-year varsity athlete on two teams, appreciates Govs’ supportive athletic environment. Batchelder, who will be continuing her lacrosse career at Harvard next year, insists that “academics always come rst for me… When I’m a better student, I perform better in sports.” Asked about her identity as a female athlete, Batchelder embraced the challenge. “You have to prove yourself as a female athlete, more so than men do, but seeing role models around here like Ms. Fitzgerald starting the women’s hockey team, tells you that it can be done.”

50In more recent years, athletic opportunities have further increased for Govs girls. Varsity wrestling, which began with only a few girls, has grown into a popular winter sport for female athletes. Roughly one-quarter of the wrestling team is female, including junior Xavia Banigan ’24, who placed second in the women’s division at the New England Preparatory School Wrestling Association Championships and third in the women’s division at the National Prep Wrestling Championships during her rst year.

“I remember not wanting to cut the tags o my wrestling shoes because I really did not want to commit,” she said about her early days in the program. “But after I won my rst match, I realized that I like this feeling of winning.” Just one year later, she is a starter who pairs up against whichever opponent is the best in her weight class, regardless of gender, and is a two-time All-American.

While tremendous progress has been made since 1971, what is more exciting is the expanding landscape of opportunities for female athletes in the future.

Perhaps when those rst female students were getting changed in their Boynton locker room they could not have envisioned today’s coeducational athletic and campus life. Or maybe they could … and that’s why they were able to pave the way for others.