{"id":646172,"date":"2025-04-09T14:25:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=646172"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:36:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:36:49","slug":"review-spring-2025-50-years-growing-womens-athletics-646172","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-spring-2025-50-years-growing-womens-athletics-646172\/","title":{"rendered":"50 years of helping grow women\u2019s athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jane Possee has seen the rise of women\u2019s sports at Rochester while having a significant hand in shaping them.<\/h2>\n

Jane Possee<\/a>, who is celebrating 50 years at the University of Rochester<\/a> this year, has been instrumental in laying the foundation for the growth of women\u2019s athletics on the River Campus.<\/p>\n

The landscape has changed considerably since she began working in the Department of Athletics and Recreation<\/a> in the fall of 1975. That was only three years after the introduction of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education, including athletics programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of professional growth over the years,\u201d says Possee. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see where we are today compared to when I started and what we are doing for everybody in athletics, not just women.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Possee\u2019s favorite memories from her five-decade career was establishing the University\u2019s women\u2019s lacrosse program in 1979\u2014one of the first collegiate programs in New York State. She had upward of 70 players interested in joining the nascent program\u2014a testament to the hunger for opportunities in women\u2019s athletics at Rochester and throughout the country.<\/p>\n

\"Close
FAIR PLAY:<\/strong> Possee coached women’s lacrosse, field hockey, and basketball from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Athletics and Recreation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since her arrival, Possee has witnessed the varsity women\u2019s sports offerings expand from five teams in 1975 to 12 teams currently, which make up more than half of the Yellowjacket varsity teams. She was the inaugural coach for the women\u2019s lacrosse program and also coached field hockey and basketball before shifting to an administrative role in 1992. Currently, she serves as an associate director of athletics, dealing with recreation programs and facility reservations while also being the point person for capital improvement projects within the \u2028department.<\/p>\n

According to Possee, the quality of students at Rochester has consistently remained exceptional over the years. She believes that the advent of organized sports at the youth and scholastic levels has greatly improved the quality of the women athletes joining the Yellowjackets in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still work to be done,\u2019\u2019 Possee told the Rochester Business Journal<\/em>. \u201cBut there\u2019s always work to be done. The exciting thing is that we have generations of girls and young women who have experienced unlimited opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

A version of this story appears in the spring 2025 issue of <\/em>Rochester Review<\/a>, the magazine of the University of Rochester<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jane Possee has seen the rise of women\u2019s sports at Rochester while having a significant hand in shaping them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1122,"featured_media":646362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41112],"tags":[37252],"class_list":["post-646172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-magazine","tag-staff"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n50 years of helping grow women\u2019s athletics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jane Possee, who is celebrating 50 years at the University of Rochester this year, has been instrumental in the growth of women\u2019s athletics on campus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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