Event

Training Rules

In 2005, basketball star Sheryl Swoopes was one of the first WNBA players to come out of the closet, a breakthrough for the womens sport. Meanwhile, Rene Portland, in her 26th year coaching womens basketball at Penn State, had three rules: no drinking, no drugs, and no lesbians. Talented young players were harassed, threatened, and even stripped of their college scholarships if they identified as lesbian or even had lesbian friends. In March 2005, Coach Portland suddenly dismissed Lady Lions #53, Jen Harris, a promising athlete with a dream to play for the WNBA, on suspicion that Jen was a lesbian. Harris filed suit against the coach, the university, and the athletic department for turning a blind eye to this open discrimination. Through the use of candid interviews and game footage, TRAINING RULES reveals the stories of Harris and six other women who were pressured to quit: the heartbreak of their lost dreams and their struggles against an iconic coach with the influence to stop them from playing anywhere else. Produced and directed by Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker, TRAINING RULES is the winner of three prestigious awards, including The San Francisco LGBT Film Festival audience award for Best Documentary in 2009.