When sophomore Frans Loriaux first stepped onto the floor with
the UCLA women’s basketball team, he didn’t know what
to expect. A few drills later he had a pretty good idea.
“They didn’t mind throwing a lot of elbow,”
Loriaux said. “They were more physical than I thought. Once
they start hitting you for a while, you don’t really get used
to it, but you get more physical back at them.”
Loriaux is part of a six-member male scout team that practices
against the women, something coach Kathy Olivier sees as a key to
her team’s success.
“The scout team helps us so much,” Olivier said.
“What they do the best is they simulate whoever we’re
getting ready to play, which means we don’t have to make our
team learn what our opponents run. We have the scout team for
that.”
Studying and mimicking an opponent’s playing style and
taking some bumps and bruises along the way may seem like a chore,
but in the players’ minds, it’s fun to be a part of the
team.
“They really love being out here,” Olivier said.
“One year, one of the USC players that week wore bright red
lipstick, so one of the guys came to practice with lipstick on. …
The guys will get really into it, which really helps us
prepare.”
The scout team usually gets its recruits from word of mouth.
Loriaux, who is also the team manager, heard about the squad
through his girlfriend. New members have joined after playing
pick-up games with some of the female players or seeing fliers for
scouts posted in the Wooden Center.
In any case, most scout players coming in are a bit wary of
going all out against the women, believing they can get away with
playing soft.
That kind of thinking can get them run off the court.
“Before I started playing with them, I thought that it
wasn’t going to be so competitive,” said 6-foot-6
senior Justin Frerichs, who played two years of basketball at Santa
Monica City College. “I thought I’d have to go easy on
them, but they’re big girls. They’re very aggressive,
very strong.
“I really have to play the way I normally would if not
harder.”
Olivier has seen many scout players over the years, and the
“go-easy” stereotype that they bring.
But after a few practices that mentality vanishes.
Alternatively, Olivier has seen her share of hotshots who try to
muscle their way onto the scout team, but they are promptly
straightened out.
“Sometimes you’ll have guys who want to come in
right away and dunk and block shots,” Olivier said. “I
have to tell them to tone it down. We don’t have anyone in
the Pac-10 who can goal tend. For the most part, they’ll
listen.”
On occasion, some athletes that join the scout team draw more
attention and interest than the women players themselves.
“One year we had Freddie Mitchell come out and be part of
the scout guys for a while,” Olivier said of the former
football great. “We were all like, “˜Oh no, it’s
Freddie ““ because, you know, he’s a big, explosive
guy.”
UCLA has been utilizing a male scout team since 1993, when the
NCAA began allowing teams to use men in practice.
The scout players are held to the same academic standards as any
other varsity athlete; they must be a full time student and be
academically eligible. They must also go through the NCAA clearing
house and fill out the same paper work as the women.
So why all the work to play with the women?
“I’ve done this for a year now, and I really like
it,” sophomore Nabil Kalam said. “I didn’t know
how good the girls would be, but they are really, really good.
“Plus, I get to play in Pauley Pavilion, which is like
basketball sacredness.”
The atmosphere during practice is very competitive.
A lot of hard fouls are committed on both sides, but once the
whistle blows, there is no animosity. They help each other up after
fouls, and the trash talking involved is more light-hearted banter
than anything else.
“I get blocked all the time, especially by Lisa
Willis,” Kalam said. “She’s my archrival. We
always go at each other, have a little friendly trash talking. …
We all mess around with each other, but after each practice we all
congratulate each other.”
The feeling is mutual on both sides of the ball.
“We love our scout guys,” sophomore guard Shaina
Zaidi said. “We tell jokes and things like that after
practice.”
Besides sharing the court for practice, the two groups also get
some of the same benefits. The scout team dons UCLA basketball
apparel during practices, gets the same medical attention from the
team trainers, and are also invited to all of the team’s
functions.
“We get some cool perks,” Loriaux said. “We
get to go to all the home games and banquets and things like
that.”
The experience can have long-lasting benefits by providing
training for future sports-related careers for the scout team.
“I had one scout player who is now an assistant coach for
the Los Angeles Sparks,” Olivier said. “A lot of the
scout guys go into coaching because they just like what this is
about, and they’re into it.”
Frerichs is one of these students hoping to build on his
experience as part of the scout team.
“I want to get into sports psychology.” Frerichs
said. “Playing here helps me see the dynamics of
women’s sports.”
Yet for all its personal ambitions, the scout team’s
primary objective is to help the women improve.
“If I block a lot of their shots in a row, they might get
mad for a second,” Frerichs said of the women’s team.
“But the coaches let them know that we’re just trying
to make them better, which is our ultimate goal.”
The coaches know that sometimes the players will have a hard
time against the men such as Frerichs, who towers over many of the
women players.
A few have even expressed difficulty in scoring over him, but in
the long run, having to go up against him will only aid
Olivier’s players down the road.
“I tell them that they’d better learn (to play
against Frerichs) because we might play against someone that big in
the post season, so get used to it,” Olivier said.
“They’ll also complain that girls they play are not as
explosive or as quick to the ball, but that’s part of
basketball. … The scout guys really do make us a better
team.”
Even though they will appear frustrated playing against the
faster and quicker players in the scout team, the women are
genuinely grateful for what the scout team is doing for them.
“We are really appreciative of them and all they do for
us,” Olivier said. “We ask them to do a lot for us, and
we take up a lot of their time.”
But in the minds of both teams, it’s time well spent.