The University of Mississippi Athletics
Does Size Matter?
10/10/2005 | Soccer
Oct. 10, 2005
By Joey Jones
Athletics Media Relations Intern
The modern concept of an athlete is easy - the faster, the stronger, the sleeker and simply the bigger an athlete is, the better. In fact, this is no new idea. The Olympic motto of "Citius, Altius, Fortius" emerged in an ancient time when faster, higher and stronger were already the ideals in athletics.
The highly successful and extremely athletic Ole Miss women's soccer team boasts faster and stronger players than most of their competition.
They are not usually higher, though.
A quick glance around the Southeastern Conference reveals that Ole Miss has the second-shortest women's soccer squad, with an average height of 5 feet, 5 inches.
But that hasn't stopped the Rebels this year. They have won nine of their 12 matches heading into the weekend, including a 3-1 mark to start the SEC campaign.
And history has a way of reminding us that bigger is not always better. The NBA's Spud Webb and Muggsy Bogues, football's Doug Flutie and Dante Hall, baseball's Marcus Giles, the WNBA's Temeka Johnson and Ole Miss' own Jason Harrison and Carletta Brown have all proven that good things can come in small packages.
Sophomore forward/midfielder Christine Liberto, who although listed as 5-foot-1 admits she is closer to 4-foot-11, relishes her role as a short person on the team.
"I have a lower center of gravity, so I can push the big guys off of me," Liberto said. "You have to be really strong, though, if you're short." Liberto is one of several Ole Miss players who would not play center in basketball and who rarely bump their head on anything, which some people would appreciate.
"I used to play basketball, but I wasn't very good at that," said Liberto. "I could dribble, but I could never shoot it because I always got blocked."
Height is not always a deterrent in soccer, though, because with a low center of gravity often comes a quicker, more feisty player.
Example, Amy Gill.
The 5-foot sophomore midfielder/forward is as feisty as they come, and she excels in her role for the Rebels. This year she has tallied a goal and three assists in the team's first 12 matches, and has probably caused more frustration for opponents than anyone else. Not to mention she has the highest vertical jump on the team.
One giant among the munchkins, though, is freshman phenom Jennifer Hance. At 5-10 (or 5-11), Hance is one of the taller players in the league, and plays a style of rough but skilled soccer that has earned her many accolades already in her young career.
She has been called "one of the best players in the air in the nation" by her head coach Steve Holeman.
Even this past weekend, Hance scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over LSU, off her head.
Another of the Rebels' taller players is senior team captain Hillary Beckman, who lines up at 5-8. She has not always been that way, though.
"I was actually real short until my freshman year of high school. I was about 5-foot-1," said Beckman. "But I ate my vegetables."
All this talk about short and tall makes you wonder what the coaches think about players' heights in the recruiting process.
"If we can have a tree standing next to the bushes, we'll be alright," said a proud assistant coach Derek Greene. "As long as we don't have a bunch of bushes next to each other, we'll be alright."
A good mixture is the key to success for the Rebel staff.
"Initially you don't think about size when recruiting, but once you have a team, you have to start making some considerations," said Holeman. "You don't want to have 15 players that are five-feet tall. It also might not hurt to have more players of Jen Hance's size, but you definitely want to have someone who can go get the ball in the air, and she's done that this year."
One thing everyone is in agreement with is that size is not a determining factor in soccer, like it can be in volleyball or basketball.
"The luxury about being a soccer player is that you don't have to be big," Holeman added. "The smaller players on our team have a special quality about them. Amy Gill is one of the faster players on our team, and Chrstine Liberto is one of the more skillful players on the team."
Holeman admits that he wouldn't mind having all big players, though "they would have to have speed" for him to consider that.
Liberto found that out the hard way.
"Some colleges I was looking at when I was in high school were just looking for big girls, so they didn't want me."
Beckman joked that Greene, who is the main assistant for recruiting and not a very tall man, "wanted to be taller than some of his players."
Greene admits there is some truth in that concept, despite the joke.
"I realized when I was playing that I could be successful even though I wasn't the tallest," Greene said. "Small players can have an advantage with a low center of gravity and can be a little quicker, and can just be a pest if they're hard workers."
Ole Miss certainly has its share of pests and bushes to compliment the occasional tree. One may wonder if they can all get along, though, despite their differences.
"I don't think they have any problems at all, except we make fun of the shorter kids sometimes," said assistant coach Melinda Smith, a former Rebel goalkeeper who likes to give out the jokes.
"The only problem they have is the tall ones and short ones can't borrow each other's clothes," said Holeman.
Clothes-borrowing aside, this year's Rebel squad has meshed into a very successful unit that is expecting big results in the SEC.
And at the very least they can always make fun of Auburn, who with two players under five feet, is the league's shortest team.
