Today: Mar 28, 2024

Club sports are growing on campus

Last year's SCSU Hockey Team

Aaron JohnsonGeneral Assignment Reporter

NEW HAVEN – Many students at Southern Connecticut State University are like Greg Jositas. Jositas, senior business major from Trumbull, Connecticut, played soccer in high school at Trumbull High. After enrolling at Southern, Jositas said he wanted to be more active even though he was no longer playing soccer.

“When I came to Southern my freshman year I didn’t pursue soccer anymore,” said Jositas, “But I wanted to play some kind of sport to stay active. I remember ultimate Frisbee was fun in gym class so I figured I could probably do that.”

Ultimate Frisbee is just one of 15 club sports team on campus open to all undergraduates at Southern. Club sports are a competitive program designed to be an athletic alternative to intramural and varsity collegiate programs.

frisbee

“Club sports get started strictly by student interest,” said Eric LaCharity, the assistant director of student life, “One student just says this is something I want to do in an organized fashion.”

The process however is not that simple. A student with interest in starting a new club sport on campus must first make up a proposal — explaining what the club is, who is it going to service, what the needs of the club will be, what kind of events will take place and finally, what the purpose of the organization is. After the proposal, a constitution and adviser agreement form follow and then are submitted to the Office of Student Life, which make the final decision on whether or not the club can be supported.

“All new clubs go on a year provisionary status after being approved,” said LaCharity.

For most new club sports the processing time varies. Sal Rizza, the associate director of Student Life, said that it all depends on how involved the particular sport is.

“The process of a new club can take as long as six months to a year,” said Rizza.

Despite all the hard work, some club sports have folded due to the loss of members or lack of interest. This is a fate that Jositas said the Ultimate Frisbee team hopes will never have to face.

“It can be hard to find people to play at times,” said Jositas. “The tough part with Southern is that there are so many commuters a lot of them want to just come in, go to class, and go home. We were able to get a good commitment from people last year and we’re hoping to be able to do the same this year.”

Last year's SCSU Hockey Team
Last year’s SCSU Hockey Team

In the end, Rizza said the determining factor for the approval of a new club sports team comes down to if the sport is feasible.

“Can we meet the needs of the idea. Sometime we can and sometimes we can’t,” said Rizza.

One of the more popular and successful club sports team on campus is the hockey club, which has been at Southern for longer than both Rizza’s and LaCharity’s tenures respectively.

“[Hockey] has been here longer than I’ve been here,” said LaCharity. “I want to say the early 2000s.”

The club sports, as a whole, are there for the benefit of the students. Jositas said he believes that personality plays a role when joining a club sports team, but it is enjoyable and fun.

“I think it depends on the type of person you are,” said Jositas. “But if you’re someone like me who was an athlete in high school and you’re no longer an athlete in college, it’s a great way to stay active and keep playing sports.”

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