Making Your Voice Heard in Every Room

Since Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was passed more than 50 years ago, women have increasingly been able to take advantage of opportunities in sports in every capacity. South Carolina senior track and field student-athlete Cailyn Scharneck recently took part in the Women Leaders in College Sports National Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, to learn more about current opportunities for women and the changes that have taken place in the last half century.

“I think it’s important for women to feel like their voice is heard in the world of sports,” said Scharneck, who competes in the hammer and weight throw events and is a business management major with a minor in leadership studies. “Being a student-athlete my whole life, I saw the opportunity and wanted to go. We networked with the other SEC schools, met with student-athletes from each school and people that worked in administration at the schools as well as other schools across the country and professional sports.”

Each year, the SEC sends one female student-athlete from all of the member institutions to the event.

“The theme was ‘In Every Room,’” Scharneck said. “We learned to be heard in every room as a female in a male-dominated business.

“There were presentations on peak performance and stress release. I really liked learning simple ways that you can alleviate stress. That one really resonated with me.

“There was another really good presentation on pro sports. I never really thought about a career in professional sports, but it was cool to see how people started in college sports and moved their way there. We had a dinner with all the SEC student-athletes and administrators that were there. That was cool to hear about what they all do.”

While networking was certainly a benefit of the event, just hearing the stories of women who have worked in sports and obstacles they overcame along the way served as a source for inspiration.

“We heard one story about a woman who won an award for being an executive of the year, and she had actually been fired from one of her jobs for speaking out,” Scharneck said.

“I’m blessed to be a part of a generation where that’s not the normal thing that’s happening now.

“I think this experience will help me because I can be timid at times and not have a lot of confidence. This gave me a surge of confidence in knowing when to speak up for myself and for others.”

Scharneck grew up competing in several sports including swimming, basketball, and lacrosse in addition to track. She hopes to work on the business side of athletics in the future.

As South Carolina celebrates 50 years of women’s varsity sports at the school, Scharneck is happy to see how far things have come, and that she gets to take part in it.

“It’s pretty special and remarkable,” Scharneck said. “It’s sad that there wasn’t always an equal opportunity in sports for women. Fifty years is a great milestone, but I wish it were longer. It’s great to see how good our women’s sports are here.”