Recent attacks alter view of travel for athletic teams

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Reporter

By the end of the year, UCLA athletic teams will have traveled
to places like Tuscaloosa, Ala., Manhattan, Kan., Williamsburg,
Va., and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Besides a selected number of games against local Southern
California foes like USC, Long Beach State, Pepperdine and the
University of San Diego, Bruin teams must reach their road
destinations by plane.

But after four hijacked planes crashed on Sept. 11, away games
may never be the same.

“I think everyone is skeptical about getting on a plane
whether you’re an athlete, a student, a businessman or
whatever,” sophomore soccer player Alex Yi said.

The number of miles Bruin teams log throughout a season is
staggering. The football, baseball and men’s and
women’s basketball teams will travel over 10,000 miles in the
air in 2001 on at least 14 separate flights for Pac-10 games
alone.

Considering the other 18 Division I sports on campus and their
non-conference games on the East Coast, that number doesn’t
even begin to indicate the dependence UCLA athletics has on planes
for transportation.

“Teams are looking at alternatives, but there aren’t
many alternatives for how you get across the country,” said
Ken Weiner, associate athletic director of business operations for
UCLA.

Cancellations of games two weeks ago out of respect for tragedy
victims, and a week later over concerns of some universities about
the safety and availability of air travel make for logistical
nightmares.

Heightened security at U.S. airports means, at least for the
immediate time being, two to three-hour check-in procedures. Taking
into account flights that can extend as long as five hours, UCLA
teams face longer transit times, possibly at the expense of
academics.

“We’re looking at things in terms of efficiency and
the amount of school student-athletes have to miss,” Weiner
said. “We’re trying to establish the status quo. When
teams need to travel up to Oregon and Washington, we are
progressing with the status quo of taking airplane flights and the
additional issue of logistics in that we have to get to the airport
earlier.”

Weiner mentioned that a week ago men’s water polo head
coach Adam Krikorian and his team were considering the possibility
of taking a bus up to Stanford for the Oct. 13-14 Northern
California Tournament, both to foster team unity and to provide a
level of comfort for the athletes.

The inconvenience of logistical adjustments pales in comparison
to how it will now feel for some UCLA athletes to board vessels
that have become terrorist weapons, despite the usually unavoidable
necessity of air travel for teams.

“I would hope that if any of my players has a concern
about travel they can come to me and discuss it with me,”
UCLA women’s soccer head coach Jillian Ellis said. “If
you have a fear of flying, it’s very difficult to be a member
of a collegiate team. There is going to be a point where we do have
to step on an airplane.”

The athletic department devolved discussion of the travel issue
to the individual coaches, allowing them to assess the attitudes,
fears and concerns of teams that are made up of inherently
different personalities.

Ellis, like many UCLA coaches, has decided to heed President
Bush’s advice and stress to her team the importance of
getting back to work and beginning the process of returning to
normalcy.

“Planes can go down at any time and it’s a sad part
of life, but I think there has to be a point where we can move on
and accept the everyday dangers of life,” Ellis said.
“Will I worry? Yes. I worry about my kids when I know
they’re driving home. I worry about them scooting around
campus on their scooters, but together we can handle
this.”