HALLWAYS


Helga Daret Remembers Sports at The Hall


Girls at St. Helen’s Hall who played sports


could wear a sweater with a big letter “H.” This group is the


Athletic Commission, which planned and regulated sports


activities. From left are Barbara Torango ’62, Sue McKenzie ’63,


Eleanor “Ditti” Weinel ’62, Betty Buckles ’63, Jeanne Wienert ’62, Libby McKirdie ’63,


Joanne Dobson ’63, Vicki Joslyn ’62, and Karen Bromberg ’62.


H


elga Daret was happy to hear that the OES girls’ soccer team won the state championship this year. It reminded her


of the good old days at St. Helen’s Hall when she coached the soccer team. Back then there were no trophies because there were no cham- pionships for girls. Helga spearheaded the Hall’s involvement in interscholastic play by signing the girls up for a recreation league. “We would cram into a station wagon and


go to one place or another,” she said. “It was mostly just for recreation. The girls had fun and got to leave the dormitory.” As the school’s only physical education


teacher through the 1950s and most of the 1960s, she taught the rules of games in classes, and students practiced after school when the playing field was open. She also coached vol- leyball, basketball, and softball, not to mention driving the girls up Mt. Hood for skiing lessons


18 OES MAGAZINE WINTER 2012 18


from an instructor. Other people instructed them in horseback riding, which took place at the riding stable where the wetlands are now located, and also in modern dance, fencing, and swimming. Helga remembers that when she first started


coaching basketball, girls only played on half the court. She says that when they started using the new gym on the Nicol Road campus, she made them play full court. Girls’ sports weren’t very important back


then. It wasn’t until 1972 that a federal law known as Title IX resulted in girls in federally supported institutions having the same athletic opportunities as boys. That was fine with Helga. “I remember when Title IX started and


everybody was saying, ‘Oh brother!’ But I was saying, ‘About time!’”


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