Being able to play the sport that you love and get a free education is an opportunity that’s nearly impossible to turn down. For many athletes, the hardest part of college athletics is figuring out what school to call home for the next four years, and sometimes after a year or two, deciding that a school is just no longer the right fit. Thankfully for them, a fresh start can be found right around the corner thanks to something called the transfer portal.
A way for college athletes to be able to leave their current situation and find a new home at a new school with a new team. This a scenario that Mercer women’s basketball’s star guard Erin Houpt knows all too well. After two seasons playing at Mercer University, Houpt decided it was best for her to enter her name into the portal to continue her basketball journey elsewhere. “It’s been a really, I guess you could say, strange time because it’s been really stressful but at the same time it’s been fun and it’s been cool to see how many people really want you when you get in the portal. So it’s been a confidence booster,” says Houpt.
As helpful as the transfer portal sounds though, it isn’t as much for women’s basketball athletes compared to the men. While the women’s basketball players are only granted three official visits to schools before they have to pay out of pocket, men’s basketball players who enter the portal are granted five free official visits before they have to pay out of pocket for an unofficial visit.
“I think it’s a strange rule,” says Houpt, “I think it’s strange how they kinda hide it. They don’t seem to make it public. I didn’t even know that I only had three visits until halfway through the transfer portal process. I don’t really understand why [women] get three while the men get five.”
“It really has affected me,” continued Houpt. “There have been four or five schools that I did want to visit but I had to narrow that down to three and figure out what school I was going to take an unofficial visit to.” Forcing women to pay out of pocket for the final two visits if they wanted to have the same amount as the men can lead to problems in social and economic problems with these athletes. A lot of people can’t afford to get a hotel, rental car, and plane ticket across the country just to go visit a school that they may or may not go to.
Not only does it affect the athletes, but it can also make schools lose out on players they really want to get because of how expensive an unofficial visit can be. “If you’re limited on money and can’t afford to take that extra trip, then that’s just one less visit you’re allowed to take and one less opportunity out there for you.” In 1972, the “Title IX” law was passed prohibiting discrimination among university programs including athletics and has been a huge reason for the growth of women’s sports. To this day, gender discrimination still exists deep underneath the surface of the NCAA.
