Looking in on an Iowa State Women’s basketball practice gives away one of their secrets to success. Suited in gray T-shirts and scrimmaging the women are six men.

Dedicating an average of 10-12 hours a week and supporting the team as fans behind the bench during games, the men volunteer their time and commitment for little other reason than they want a good pick-up game.

They said the women’s team is better competition than going to the gym.

“It’s a much better workout than pick-up games at the Rec.,” Nate Martin, a senior in agronomy said. “And they’re good.”

Scrimmaging against the men improves the women’s team and allows them to practice as a team, as opposed to against one another. It also makes them tougher when it comes to game time.

Assistant Coach Brenda Oldfield said, “Coach Fennelly is always telling them that when it comes to game time, the competition is going to be better and harder — but these guys are twice the players and deep down, in reality, [the women] know that they’re not going to find anyone better.”

Players and coaches all agreed that the men can jump higher and shove harder than women.

However, Oldfield said the men get cut up and injured by the women’s tough play as well.

“One year, a guy got stitches,” she said.

Forward Jessica Jackson, a freshman in pre-journalism, said the men make them better at rebounding and blocking out.

“They’re fast, and they’re quick and they help us prepare for the game,” she said.

Center Angie Welle said the men’s speed challenges them but pays off when it comes to game time.

“You develop habits, and when you’re in the middle of the game, you suddenly realize, ‘Oh my God, they aren’t as quick as these guys are,'” she said.

The tradition of recruiting collegiate men to scrimmage the women’s team started three years ago at ISU.

Although some other schools do the same, it’s not common.

Assistant Coach Latoja Harris recruits, selects and coaches the practice player’s team.

“I’m really hard on them,” she said. “If they make a mistake, I pull them and say, ‘You let a girl beat you like that?!'”

Martin said in high school, he played varsity basketball for four years, but he thinks he’s “even better now.”

“[Harris] makes sure we’re playing hard,” Martin said. “They won’t get better if we don’t.”

Oldfield said, “It’s a huge advantage for our team.”

Oldfield said there is an obvious difference when the men are around.

In fact, she said practicing with them is so beneficial that sometimes the team will leave later than they would for a road trip — just so they can scrimmage the men before they depart.

“It’s a different level,” she said. “You just don’t find women like they’re built.”

Oldfield said the men range in height from 5’7″ to 6’4″, and they are expected to simulate the star players of the opposing team and run the plays the women will face in the upcoming game.

She said practice player Jack Liao should be MVP “just because he tries so hard.”

“He’s five foot nothing,” she explained.

Harris said the men are “part of the team” and “they all have personalities.”

Harris said romantic interest between the men and women are “a big ‘No, No,'” but it has never been a problem.

Welle said dating men on the scrimmage team is not an issue because “they’re kind of like our brothers.”