Fourth-year materials engineering and business economics student Chris Trapani is part of the UCLA women’s basketball scout team.
You’ve seen them walking around campus, but you probably haven’t noticed them.
They practice in Pauley Pavilion as often as five days a week, but they don’t sport the famed blue UCLA backpacks.
They are part of the women’s basketball program, but they’re men.
Who are these mysterious warriors of the court, those who practice but never play and are said to put the “men” in “women’s” basketball?
Unknown to most except the close followers of UCLA athletics, the women’s basketball practice squad, known as the scout team, is a group of approximately a dozen undergraduate male students who practice with the women’s basketball team and simulate its opponents.
That’s right, guys playing with girls.
Because of a lack of women on campus able to play at or near a Division I level, nearly all collegiate women’s basketball teams utilize male scout teams. UCLA is no different.
“It’s unrealistic in the sense that you’re not going to play against girls like that in a game, but because of that, it prepares you so much more,” sophomore guard Mariah Williams said. “So when you go against that, and actually compete and step on the floor with girls, it’s a little easier; you have a little more confidence and swagger to your game.”
Why would guys want to play with the women’s team? They must receive a bundle of free apparel, priority enrollment and at least a monthly tub of free Muscle Milk, right?
But other than a pair of basketball shoes and a couple of free T-shirts here and there, the scout team can be considered your average group of pro bono ballers.
Nav Rai, a fifth-year psychobiology student and the most veteran player on the scout team, was offered opportunities to play basketball at UC San Diego and UC Davis. Realizing that professional basketball was not in his future, however, Rai instead chose to attend UCLA for its academics.
After unsuccessfully trying to walk on to the UCLA men’s basketball team as a freshman, Rai told the coaches to let him know if they ever needed anything. A couple of days later, he got a call from then-women’s basketball coach Kathy Olivier, asking if he would help out at practice.
“At the beginning, it was kind of awkward; I wasn’t sure what the coaches wanted from me, I didn’t know how hard to play,” Rai said. “But I realized that I’m here to push them to get better and do what I can to help them.”
Members of the scout team take their responsibilities seriously. They aren’t at practice to play games of HORSE or shoot trick shots from the bleachers in Pauley.
Their job is to make the women’s team better, and they are expected to practice with the same intensity as the women’s team. When they don’t, the coaches let them know about it.
“We challenge them, and they have had to run when they are not doing what they need to do,” coach Nikki Caldwell said. “But for the most part, they come out and we know that this is a very giving thing that they do.
“They have definitely helped us get better every day, coming in, playing us tough and simulating our opponents.”
For many of its members, the scout team fills a post-high school void by allowing them to continue playing basketball in a structured team environment.
That team structure leads to an on-court camaraderie that extends far beyond the women’s practice.
Rai cited the scout team for introducing him to many of his best friends, and he even lives with fellow scout team member Al Calvanico, a third-year business economics student and three-year veteran of the scout team.
“I’d say my favorite part (about being on the scout team) would be hanging out with all the other guys who do scout team, too,” Calvanico said. “We play a lot of basketball together outside of practice, and we do BJLS every week.”
BJLS is a scout team ritual and stands for BJ’s Lunch Special. Once a week, members of the scout team go to feast on discount mini pizzas and pizookies after practice.
After letting the pepperoni settle, they might head to the John Wooden Center for a series of pick-up games or to the Student Activities Center for intramural basketball ““ Rai and Calvanico have seven intramural championships between the two of them.
Back in Pauley, the purpose of the scout team remains to help improve the women’s team, and both Rai and Calvanico said it is important to them that the women play well. The Bruins are certainly playing well this season: They are currently the No. 11 team in the country and second in the Pac-10, behind Stanford.
“I’m just happy for them, that they are ranked. It kind of feels like we’re a part of that,” Rai said. “It gives us some pride that we helped them get to that point.”
The scout team is just one of the many facets of the women’s basketball program that help contribute to its success. Behind the scenes are also assistant coaches, trainers, managers and a host of other individuals whose contributions go largely without recognition on game day.
When confronted with the idea that these behind-the-scenes role players deserve more credit, Rai paused in thought for several seconds before answering with a quote from the late John Wooden.
“Much can be accomplished if you’re not worried about who is going to get the credit,” Rai said.