Women’s Basketball: Practice players become part of team

 When Gregg Donnelly takes the floor at the Petersen Events Center, he’s surrounded by athletes a few inches taller and quite a few pounds of muscle heavier. He’s not allowed to dunk, but unless he makes a slick move inside, he probably wouldn’t get the ball that close to the basket, anyway.

But at the other end of the court, Pitt women’s basketball players usually have no trouble scoring on him.

Donnelly is just one of the male students who make up Pitt’s group of practice players. Pitt head coach Agnus Berenato started using practice players when she was a head coach at Georgia Tech in the ’90s and carried the tradition with her to Pitt.

She first started using male practice players when her team at Georgia Tech suffered several injuries and a friend’s son gathered some fraternity brothers to join her team at practice.

“We had to have a scout team,” Berenato said. “We have to be able to practice against our opponent and see what they’re running.”

Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt is credited with introducing the concept to women’s basketball in 1974 when she began coaching there. Other top programs — such as Connecticut and Rutgers — also use male practice players.

Summitt said she started using male practice players because her team didn’t have a lot of depth and it was difficult to hold scrimmages in practice.

While coaching, she also taught physical education classes and took classes as a graduate student. She took notice of men playing pickup games in the gym after her practices and got the idea to ask some of them to play against the Lady Volunteers.

“It was much better than our manager waving a broom like she was a tall player in the post trying to block or alter shots,” Summitt said.

Summit said the practice players help the team get more repetition on offense and defense while eliminating the familiarity of always competing against teammates.

Practicing with the Panthers

Donnelly, now a senior, has practiced with the Panthers since his sophomore year. He went through a tryout with a group of other potential practice players after responding to a flier posted in Trees Hall.

“I’m only 5-foot-10 and the girls there are over six feet,” Donnelly said. “You swallow your pride because they’re gonna drop step and they’re gonna score on you.”

For the sake of competitiveness and safety, Berenato has a set of rules the practice players must follow. They cannot dunk, block from behind or undercut during a layup.

Other male students discovered the opportunity in a different way. This year, video coordinator Dave Scarborough went to Trees Hall and played some pickup games to find potential practice players.

“I did it the wrong way. I got guys’ emails and instead of saying, ‘Hey, let me get your email,’” he said. “Guys just emailed me and I had no idea who they were.”

The first player he brought to the team was 5-foot-10 sophomore Josh Smertz.

“He walked into my office one day, he’s like five-foot-nothing and we were a little worried about him,” Scarborough said. “He’s turned out to be a good guy.”

Smertz recruited new practice player Zach Koehler. Senior Pat McDonald heard about practice players from friends who started helping teams at other schools, such as the University of Southern California. Sophomore Jarad Kmietowicz saw a flier about becoming a practice player last year.

McDonald, who transferred to Pitt last year from Wilkes University, took initiative and got the process started as soon as he arrived on campus.

He played soccer at Wilkes and said that the camaraderie between the basketball team members and practice players reminds him of his time as an intercollegiate athlete.

“You kinda feel a part of everything that’s going on,” he said. “So it’s kinda cool to feel that again.”

Smertz said the experience hasn’t been what he expected.

“I figured I would just go there and maybe pick a few balls up and put the balls away,” Smertz said.

But Berenato uses practice players to ensure that none of her team members see less time on the court during practice. She said she wants her players on the bench to get into the rotation the same way they would in a game.

“Say you practice a scout, then you have to teach and reteach the whole set [to the entire bench],” she said. “The thing is, it just takes a lot of time. I try to be very, very time conscious. For me, it’s all about time management.”

Sophomore guard Marquel Davis was already used to playing with male athletes at practice when she arrived at Pitt as a freshman, saying she’d played against men her entire life.

“I just look at it like playing pickup against the guys in a regular gym,” she said. “I think it’s good for women players to be able to get to play against men because physically they have a bit [more] of an advantage than women have. They make us better.”

Sophomore Kyra Dunn agreed that practicing with men is normal. Her high school team also used practice players.

“It’s just a tremendous help,” she said. “And it really makes you want to work that much harder because it teaches you to give everything you’ve got to in order to do well against girl or outplay her.

“I’m just so thankful that they come in everyday even though the results don’t seem like they’re paying off. It’s just a great help, and we really appreciate it.”

The practice players receive a pair of sneakers and practice gear that the team washes and that they get to keep at the end of the year. That’s the extent of the free perks.

But the players don’t do it for the tangible benefits.

“Everyone really likes being a part of a group,” Berenato said. “They really have become a part of our family.”

All practice players have to go through the same administrative hurdles as the athletes, including registering with NCAA clearinghouse, taking drug tests, undergoing physicals, attending compliance meetings and filling out paperwork.

“The process is long, but it’s thorough,” Pitt associate head coach Patty Coyle said. “If they go through the process, you know they’re serious. They understand it’s not about them. They all get it. That’s real important. They’re here to make us better.”

Beyond Practice

For some of the practice players, the experience helps prepare them for the future. Kmietowicz said he wants to go into coaching and that his time as a practice player will be invaluable as a coach.

“I just think that all the practice players … start out just wanting to get a good run and work up a good sweat,” Berenato said. “But what several of them have done is ask me if they could come shadow us in the office. They all maybe now want to think about a career in athletics.”

Over time, the players become part of the team.

“Greg brought his parents last week and they came to a practice,” Berenato said. “It was if they were watching their son practice for a team. Jarad’s parents were at the West Virginia game on Saturday. They’re just so proud of their sons.”

Mallorie Winn, a former player under Berenato at Pitt and Georgia Tech, is now an assistant coach. She knows firsthand the importance of practice players.

“It’s becomes very tiring being a student-athlete. Going to class, practice everyday, weightlifting this and that,” Winn said. “To have that different element come in and raise the intensity on a daily basis, it just really helps keep the practices spontaneous and keep it going and keeping it competitive.

Scarborough said the practice players help to recreate game-like situations and Coyle added that “they never have a bad day.”

The role of the men doesn’t stop when practice ends.

“One of the managers last year and I would sit at press row [during games] and we would just write the plays together and defense and all that,” Kmietowicz said. “It was just good to see the game from that aspect. It was almost like we were scouting with coaches.”

The men often break down film with the team, as well.

With the practice players’ different schedules, two or three men will normally take part in a practice. The coaches hope to get to a point where they have five at every practice and a total roster of 10 or more.

Each of the practice players said they’ve developed a greater appreciation for the players’ ability and the sport.

“A lot of people are surprised with the level of competition,” Donnelly said. “I always tell my buddies ‘No, they’re very skilled, very strong and they’re quick too.’”

McDonald chuckled recalling a misunderstanding about the role of practice players. He overheard a conversation where a fellow Pitt student thought McDonald snuck onto the Petersen Events Center floor once and took a shot.

“I’m in there like everyday,” McDonald said.

Smertz said it keeps getting harder for him to keep up with the team.

“What I’ve learned so far is that women’s players are a lot better than people think. It’s definitely been a humbling experience playing against them,” Smertz said.