The Rise: Tuesday Testimonials with Shanna Haines Blanchard '90
10/17/2017 1:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Video
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Playing college soccer was the goal – and getting a scholarship to do so was icing on the proverbial cake for San Francisco Athletics Hall of Famer Shanna Haines-Blanchard '90.
In today's Tuesday Testimonial you'll hear more about her true pioneering spirit as she helped establish the women's soccer program on the Hilltop, her drive to succeed on the pitch and in the classroom, and her experiences playing professional soccer in Japan. It all culminates with her reflections on just how far women in sports have come, but also a peek at where they might need to go.
"My dad, definitely when I was in junior high and high school was looking for schools for me to get a scholarship, and there definitely wasn't a lot of choices at the time," Haines-Blanchard recalls. "But for me, it was just about playing – I really wanted to play in college and that would have been something that was really important to me. The scholarship was nice Erik (Visser), my coach, and Sandy Hill, they really worked hard to get the programs going here. Every year they got a little bit more money for me so I think by the time I was a senior I got full tuition, so that was big."
The first women's soccer player inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame, Haines-Blanchard's name appears frequently in the USF career and single-season record books, where she holds the tops spot in virtually every meaningful offensive category, her 42 goals including 17 unassisted goals and 29 assists for a total of 113 points continue to mark all-time highs. From 1986-1989, Haines was the season leader in points, goals and assists. The team captain and MVP for the Dons in 1987-88 also earned Adidas All-American status in 1989 to cap her career.
"It was afterwards when I said wow, I didn't even realize how much this made a big impact," Haines-Blanchard noted "Would we even have the women's sports we have today if it wasn't for Title IX.
"Every year you still need to go back, I think, and show how important the women's sports are. You're still going to find other areas of inequities," Haines Blanchard reflected. "I think a lot of times we need to educate the women too. I didn't know. I didn't know how lucky I was to get to play soccer growing up … I think sometimes we just don't realize where we started and it's amazing to see how far we've come."
Learn more about this pioneer of USF women's soccer in this vignette, as the Dons honor and highlight many of the trailblazers of the Hilltop as part of the 45th anniversary celebrations of Title IX. The year-long look at the women of USF will culminate in a feature documentary. "The Rise" will be seen this spring, released in conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and aired on NBC Sports California in February.
Playing college soccer was the goal – and getting a scholarship to do so was icing on the proverbial cake for San Francisco Athletics Hall of Famer Shanna Haines-Blanchard '90.
In today's Tuesday Testimonial you'll hear more about her true pioneering spirit as she helped establish the women's soccer program on the Hilltop, her drive to succeed on the pitch and in the classroom, and her experiences playing professional soccer in Japan. It all culminates with her reflections on just how far women in sports have come, but also a peek at where they might need to go.
"My dad, definitely when I was in junior high and high school was looking for schools for me to get a scholarship, and there definitely wasn't a lot of choices at the time," Haines-Blanchard recalls. "But for me, it was just about playing – I really wanted to play in college and that would have been something that was really important to me. The scholarship was nice Erik (Visser), my coach, and Sandy Hill, they really worked hard to get the programs going here. Every year they got a little bit more money for me so I think by the time I was a senior I got full tuition, so that was big."
The first women's soccer player inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame, Haines-Blanchard's name appears frequently in the USF career and single-season record books, where she holds the tops spot in virtually every meaningful offensive category, her 42 goals including 17 unassisted goals and 29 assists for a total of 113 points continue to mark all-time highs. From 1986-1989, Haines was the season leader in points, goals and assists. The team captain and MVP for the Dons in 1987-88 also earned Adidas All-American status in 1989 to cap her career.
"It was afterwards when I said wow, I didn't even realize how much this made a big impact," Haines-Blanchard noted "Would we even have the women's sports we have today if it wasn't for Title IX.
"Every year you still need to go back, I think, and show how important the women's sports are. You're still going to find other areas of inequities," Haines Blanchard reflected. "I think a lot of times we need to educate the women too. I didn't know. I didn't know how lucky I was to get to play soccer growing up … I think sometimes we just don't realize where we started and it's amazing to see how far we've come."
Learn more about this pioneer of USF women's soccer in this vignette, as the Dons honor and highlight many of the trailblazers of the Hilltop as part of the 45th anniversary celebrations of Title IX. The year-long look at the women of USF will culminate in a feature documentary. "The Rise" will be seen this spring, released in conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and aired on NBC Sports California in February.
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