One-On-One: Kathy Masterson Discusses Gender Equity In Sports

Sports has always been life for Kathy Masterson.

She was a standout three-sport athlete at Southampton High School, playing field hockey, basketball and softball before graduating in 1987. From there, she went to Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia, pulling off the rare feat of playing two collegiate sports, field hockey and softball, before graduating in 1991 with a degree in sports management and a minor in sports medicine.

She returned to Southampton and immediately began coaching, first with the JV field hockey team at Shelter Island and later at her alma mater, serving as an assistant to revered field hockey coach Chris Holden. She continued her education in the meantime, ultimately earning two master’s degrees.

In 1999, she was hired as a phys ed teacher in the Westhampton Beach School District and became the athletic director there in 2006. This spring, she announced she would embark on a new challenge, accepting the AD position at East Hampton High School.

Last week, Masterson reflected on her career as a former standout athlete, and as an administrator working in a male-dominated field. She discussed all of that within the context of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation that created gender equity in education, and is widely recognized for creating gender equity in sports.

Masterson expressed gratitude for the work of pioneers who came before her and helped ensure that her experience as an athlete would never be diminished because of her gender, and she spoke about the gratifying experience of watching both male and female athletes have experiences of a lifetime during their high school careers.

Tell me about your career trajectory and what led you to becoming an athletic director. Was it a goal of yours since college?

I always wanted to do something within athletics, and I always wanted it to be managerial. I had great role models in [former Southampton High School physical education teacher and field hockey coach] Chris Holden, and [former Pierson phys ed teacher and field hockey coach] Debbie Jayne, and they helped to mold what I wanted to do in life. I knew I wasn’t going to go pro in any sports, but the way I look at it is that I went pro in athletics.

Phys ed teachers were always my favorite people, from [former Southampton teacher and coach] Alexis Glowa to [former Southampton phys ed teacher and coaches] Dave Foster, Tom Finocchiaro and Chris Sweet. They always had the biggest impact on my life because I always wanted to be in the gym.

Being an athletic director is a male-dominated job, and there are many more male ADs than female ADs in Suffolk County. How many female ADs were there in the county when you were first hired, and how many are there now?

When I first started, there was Mary Anne Jules at Bridgehampton, Lisa Lally from Miller Place, Georgia McCarthy at Huntington, and Paula Nickerson at Middle Country. Now there are only four: myself, Deb Ferry at Port Jefferson, Alicia Smith at Longwood, and Trish Lectora at Central Islip.

Tell me about your relationships with some of those female athletic directors, especially Mary Anne Jules. I know you really admire her. What made her so good at her job and what did you learn from her?

I knew Mary Anne Jules when I was an athlete and then as a teacher coming up. She was the epitome of a role model. She was an AD and a teacher in Bridgehampton for her entire career, and she’s an AD that everyone looks up to. She is second to none. She might not have the big school experience, but it doesn’t matter — when Mary Anne Jules walks into a room, her presence is very much there. She’s a class act and somebody you’d want to become.

No matter where she went, she had that respect immediately when she walked into a room. She wasn’t a tough guy or anything like that, but her knowledge and experience and the way she dealt with people in a calm and very peaceful way was incredible. She always treats everyone with the utmost respect.

One thing about Section XI (Suffolk County) is that even though [being an AD] is a male dominated position, I have never once felt like it’s an old boys club. It has always been an equal party. If you do your job, you have that respect, whether you’re male or female, and that’s the way it should be.

Let’s talk about your days as an athlete. You played three sports at Southampton High School and went on to play two sports in college, a rare feat. What was the experience of being a female athlete like at that time, and how does it compare to what it’s like for female athletes now?

Both in high school and college, it was phenomenal. People like Alexis Glowa and Chris Holden really paved the way. No one ever treated [female athletes] any differently. I never felt inferior to the boys as an athlete in high school or college. Chris and Alexis never would’ve let that happen, and even Bob Barker, as softball coach. I know it was the same at Pierson with Debbie Jayne. That was the blessing of growing up out here — I’ve never once in my career as an athlete and as an AD felt inferior because I’m a woman. I think I’ve worked harder because I feel in my own self I have things to prove and want to work as hard as I can for the kids. And I feel I have to work just as hard if not harder to keep up all the sacrifices that people like [former Southampton coach and Suffolk Sports Hall of Famer] Marge Auster put forth in Southampton and were supported as I grew up out here. All the districts out here were very proactive. I feel like we really had a charmed life growing up out here.

How much do you think current high school athletes know about Title IX and its impact on gender equity in sports? Is it something they learn about? My guess is that female athletes under your charge can’t even fathom a world where they have less access and opportunity than their male peers.

We’ve never really had to deal with that because, as an administration, we’ve been blessed at Westhampton Beach. Our kids don’t even think about that. And for the male athletes, when they get older, if they have daughters, and their daughters want to be athletes, I know they’ll want to watch them and support them. I know I was blessed to have parents who always supported me and my siblings in sports.

Essentially, Title IX really did the job it set out to do. It’s not often you can say that of certain laws and landmark legislation.

Yes. I think about the dads I saw last weekend, up at the state tournament for the girls lacrosse team, watching their daughters play in the state semifinals. Those dads, they were gleaming with the pride they have in their daughters.

I remember being an athlete and going to the Long Island Championship [for field hockey] and watching my dad and the other dads all in the stands screaming, and in college, me and my roommate’s dad would come watch us playing softball and field hockey. We never felt slighted, and that’s because of the trailblazers who came before us.

When it comes to Title IX compliance, what does that look like for an athletic director these days, and has it changed over the years? Is there much you even need to do anymore in terms of compliance? I would imagine the systems of equity have been pretty well established by now, but at the same time I’m sure you always have to keep an eye on it.

You need to make sure that you’re still checking on things. For instance, people will sometimes donate something for a team, so if the baseball team has a batting cage, even if it’s donated, the district needs to look at that and say either, how can we make it equal, and make it work so both the baseball and softball team can use it, or how can we find the funds to also get a batting cage for the softball team?

When we put the turf field in at Westhampton Beach, I brought all the varsity coaches together, and I’ve done it every year since, and we sit down together and map out the schedule so that every team has equal access, between the soccer teams, football, lacrosse, etc. Everything needs to be equal.

The work that was done by so many of the pioneers you referenced, in the years before and immediately following the passage of Title IX, has really been sustained and it has been great to see. I was thinking about that as I watched all the attention the Westhampton Beach girls lacrosse team had during their run to states. They really were the toast of the town, and the level of community-wide energy and enthusiasm and support for that team is really the legacy of Title IX.

It was a great run, and great to see the crowd they drew in the county championship game in Newfield, and the Long Island Championship game at Stony Brook on a Sunday afternoon. And the way the girls were celebrated, with our fire department bringing them in and then escorting them out [to states].

And I was so impressed by their sportsmanship and their love of the game. [Freshman goalie] Maya Farnan, after they lose in the first round, in overtime, she got emotional and took a few minutes, but then she walked across the field and turned to the Manhasset team coming out to get ready to play their game and says, “good luck.” That kid taught me a valuable lesson, that it’s just a game and yes we lost and we’re disappointed, but you still show that respect to the next team that’s taking the field.

That’s such an important life lesson, and it’s hard to imagine something else that can provide that kind of lesson in the unique way that playing competitive high school sports can. And again, to bring it back to Title IX, I think that’s the whole point. What you just described is the kind of character building life lesson that benefits everyone, from the players to the coaches, parents, and even you as athletic director. It’s an experience that’s worthwhile and important for everyone, regardless of gender.

Exactly. I’m starting to clean out my office now, and I’m taking down photos of kids from over the years, and it brings back so many memories. I have a photo of [former WHB football standout] Dylan Laube from when we won the Long Island Championship, and [former three-sport athlete] Ciara McKeon [who died in a car accident last year]. These are kids that have made such an impact on my life. They’re kids that love sports the way I love sports. It doesn’t matter if they’re male or female.