With steady staff turnover, athletics facilities shrouded with turmoil and uncertainty and a new athletic director taking the helm, the Revolutionaries step into the 2024-25 year during a period of transition.
Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Lipitz started his tenure in August, coming to Foggy Bottom after holding the same position at the University of Illinois Chicago. After attending his introductory press conference last month, I left with hope for the future of GW’s sports.
Lipitz was enthusiastic about assuming his role at GW, focusing a sustained effort toward fundraising, cultivating a strong sports culture and accommodating all teams’ needs to ensure success. He acknowledged, though, that his time with larger athletic programs like NC State and UMD, which have larger funding and resources, will be different than at GW.
The Hatchet sat down with veteran athletes across several teams to hear their views on the state of our sports programs, from excitement about Lipitz’s hiring to calls for updated facilities and optimism surrounding the future of their sports and GW athletics.
Tennis – Senior Alejandra Ramirez
Q: How do you feel about the overall direction of the athletic program? What aspects are currently working well, or where do you see room for improvement?
A: It’s a little frustrating how we don’t have playable courts. Our home matches are technically off-campus, which is upsetting because we don’t really have a big crowd to cheer us on, which is huge for tennis or any sport. But what can you do as a player? Just roll with it. I know there’s some other issues, but I know we have a new AD, which I’m really happy about because he also is a former tennis player. I’m excited to see how that goes.
Q: What additional resources do you think could benefit your team and some of the other teams?
A: I think we’d really like having our own athletic trainer on site. I think that could help sometimes, because for example, lacrosse and volleyball, they always have their athletic trainer on site. So sometimes it would be nice if our wrapping comes undone, or we need to tape our shoulder really quick, just having someone on standby would be helpful.
Men’s Soccer – Graduate Student Roee Tenne
Q: How do you feel about the overall direction of the athletic program? What aspects do you think are currently working well, or where do you see room for improvement?
A: Speaking about Michael [Lipitz], I met him a few times in the past few weeks. He comes with a very good background from UIC, not only helping in financial stances but also bringing in championships and wins. So we’re very happy and grateful to have him here. Hopefully he can push, continue to push sports into GW and make the culture around it more strong and robust, and continue that positive, kind of upward trend.
Q: Are there any additional resources or facilities that you believe that your team would benefit from the most?
A: We’re very lucky that we’re getting a new locker room in the next few months. So that’s been very, very helpful. That’s been a big thing for us over the past three years and will help elevate and make the players feel a lot more comfortable, more at home. So it’s been very good. The turf was redone a few years ago, which improved the facilities here. So overall now I think we are really lucky to have full-time athletic trainers and sports conditioning coaches. It’s been great for us in terms of what we have.
Softball – Junior Ashley Corpuz
Q: How do you perceive the support provided to student-athletes in terms of training facilities and academic resources?
A: I feel very supported here. All of our staff is amazing, from our academic advisors to our strength and conditioning staff to overall admin. I really feel the support even like them coming out to games and supporting us in various ways. But everyone from the top to our coaches to just the teammates in general, everybody’s so supportive, and it’s a great environment.
Q: What facilities upgrades do you guys have?
A: We got a new padded wall, which is huge, especially because I’m an outfielder, we run into the wall sometimes, and the padding helps a lot. And we recently got lights, so now we’re able to play night games, which will be super exciting.
Water Polo – Graduate Student Luca Castorina
Q: How do you perceive the support provided to student-athletes in terms of training facilities and academic resources?
A: We already are seeing a step up for our water polo program, because for the first year, we’re not going to play any home games at the Smith Center, where you cannot really play any proper water polo. We’re gonna play two games at The Long Bridge, which is just a mile away from campus, just across the bridge. And the other two games will probably be at St. James, where two are still to be decided.
Q: Is there anything that you’re looking forward to the athletic director implementing?
A: Speaking for water polo, I hope that at some point, definitely not with me but maybe with Joseph [McCreary], who is a freshman, they can start having a regular pool, or maybe an Olympic pool here on campus, so that we can have a nice facility where we can practice and play as well. There hopefully will be a project sometime soon, but we still don’t know.
Q: How do you feel about the overall direction of the athletic program?
A: I’ve been enjoying all the events that the athletic program has. I don’t know, it’s not typical from where I’m from back home, but here in the U.S., I really like how we gather all the teams together every time before every season starts.
Women’s Soccer – Senior Maggie Mockenhaupt
Q: For the women’s soccer team, what additional resources or facilities do you guys think would benefit the team most, if any?
A: We got Jordan Butler this year. He’s our mental health advisor, so that has already been super helpful. I think the girls have really been using it. And besides that, we have great strength and conditioning staff, which is always pretty strong, and obviously our new three new coaches and Gary [Malebranche] this semester, just helping us with every aspect.
Q: How do you feel about the overall direction of the athletic program, and what aspects do you think are currently working?
A: I think with soccer, our new coaching staff coming in has been super helpful, we already created a new identity, and we’re already doing so much better than we have just because he’s just showing us new skills. I think GW Athletics as a whole is moving forward.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
