Convent of the Sacred Heart Greenwich students partake in a field hockey game in 1980. Courtesy of School Archives.
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Since the founding of Sacred Heart schools in the early 1800s, physical activity has been a component of the network’s well-rounded education for girls. However, the type of exercise and its purpose have dramatically evolved over the past two hundred years.
In 1810, at the Sacred Heart school in Paris, schoolgirls wore long dresses and partook in outdoor activities such as tossing a ball decorously or rolling hoops. The latter was a common pastime for students in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Participants used a wooden hula-hoop balanced by flat edges and constantly tapped the hoop with a stick in order to keep it rolling along the ground. Although this activity went out of style by World War I, it helped girls improve their physical abilities.
“The things certainly must have improved hand-eye control and a sense of keeping an object balanced,” Convent of the Sacred Heart Greenwich Archivist Mrs. Victoria Allen said.
Between 1848 and 1905, Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City gave all of the girls the opportunity to walk around a designated area of the campus. This pastime was advertised on the school’s brochure because it was admirable that young ladies were able to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. The school did not encourage athleticism in their students, however.
“The fact that girls were not encouraged to play sports in the early 1900s was a sociological issue,” Mrs. Allen said. “Athletic girls were considered to be unfeminine, but it is fascinating that young girls and women today are doing things that used to be acceptable only for men and boys.”
Whereas today’s athletes support jerseys made of polyester, nylon, and spandex, the Sacred Heart girls of the nineteenth century did not wear special uniforms for outdoor activities. The gym bloomer was the first athletic uniform designed for girls in the 1920s. Underneath this blue or yellow one-piece outfit, girls wore a white blouse buttoned up to their necks and long stockings because they were forbidden to expose any flesh.
“Women’s athletic clothing was so encumbering, and the long skirts were heavy and ugly,” Mrs. Allen said.
With this new attire, girls began playing sports such as basketball and field hockey starting in 1915.
In the 1920s, Sacred Heart Greenwich added an outdoor swimming pool for students to use. Despite a few modifications and enlargements, the pool is the same one that exists today.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the school also introduced calisthenics, the practice of exercising without equipment. This activity was not meant to train girls for athletics, but rather to help them improve posture.
“It is important to understand how women’s athletics has changed not only in what activities girls engaged in, but also the reason that sports were played,” Mrs. Allen said. “Back in the 1900s, there was no intention of getting an athletic scholarship for college. There is much more emphasis on skill and muscle nowadays, but it used to be shocking to see a young woman with muscles.”
The Sacred Heart schools in Greenwich and New York City did not introduce interscholastic sports for girls until the late 1960s for reasons such as the inaccessibility of transportation. When this practice began, however, Sacred Heart teams challenged other girls schools in basketball, volleyball, field hockey, and the occasional game of lacrosse or softball.
“An interscholastic game schedule, such as the local Fairchester Athletic Association (FAA) and the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), provides an opportunity for a higher level of competition and encourages traditions and rivalries between specific schools, which promotes healthy school spirit,” Sacred Heart Greenwich Director of Athletics Ms. Kelly Stone said. “It is always great fun when you are getting fired up to play your cross-town rival.”
Sacred Heart Greenwich’s alumnae magazine, Horizons, featured the school’s athletic records for the 1975-76 seasons for the first time in the June 1976 edition. According to the issue, Sacred Heart’s field hockey team was undefeated in the fall season. The varsity basketball team beat Greenwich Academy, Sacred Heart (Stamford), Dobbs Ferry, and Greens Farms, but lost to Rye Country Day and Low Heywood. The varsity and junior varsity badminton teams were both undefeated.
“We’ve always been on top,” the former Director of Athletics Peg Melford said, according to the June 1976 edition of Horizons.
From rolling hoops to interscholastic competitions, Sacred Heart athletics have created an enriching experience for students.
“Athletic competition empowers females,” Ms. Stone said. “Team sports provide a special opportunity where girls can build a strong sense of self, feel connected and accepted by others while learning how to work together as a team to achieve a common goal. The ups and downs of a individual game and an entire season teach life lessons preparing athletes to be resilient and prepared for what life has in store.”
– Jade Cohen, Staff Writer