By Amara Grautski
With a lack of on-campus facilities for club sports teams and a call for improvements, an increased budget to provide short-term alternatives was discussed yesterday between university officials and Student Government Association (SGA) President Rob Ranley.
The group, which included Athletics Director Peter Roby and club sports director Jerry Foster, discussed a revised budget for club sports, which would give the department $237,000 for the 2008 academic year – a $127,000 increase from last year.
Last year club sports divided its $110,000 budget three ways: $50,000 was distributed evenly among 40 teams, $10,000 was used to help fund teams going to championships and $50,000 was used at Foster’s discretion.
However, Ranley said he has been speaking to members of club sports teams since January to get their feedback. He said one of the biggest concerns among teams is having a sufficient amount of space that is safe and close to campus to use for practices.
“We’re considering field rentals doubling to about $50,000 … just because it’s so constrained on campus,” he said.
Ranley said some of the areas that had been discussed were near Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wentworth Institute of Technology, but in the past these areas hadn’t been rented because of lack of funds.
Middler Tim McIvor, events coordinator and member of the club tennis team, said playing at the Sportsman Tennis Club in Dorchester, where the team currently practices, isn’t safe or convenient for teammates.
“Once in a while the vans [we use] don’t have service, so basically we have to take the public buses,” McIvor said, “and when we’re waiting for them at 11 p.m., cops have pulled up saying that we’re not safe and then just stroll away.”
McIvor said the team chose to play at the courts in Dorchester because it was the place that provided the cheapest indoor tennis courts at $22.50 per court per hour. But price and location aren’t the only issues the tennis team has with the Sportsman Tennis Club.
“We usually end up getting four or five courts for a lot of people and it can be annoying because then people have to sit out,” McIvor said. “They even leave the club because of it. They don’t feel like they’re getting enough out of it.”
Middler Chelsea Dietz, a player on the club women’s hockey team, said although the team was given practice time at Matthews Arena, they weren’t given team locker space.
“People who lived on Mission Hill … who were interested in playing would not play because they didn’t want to carry their bag [of equipment],” Dietz said.
Dietz is also a member of the club women’s rugby team and said there were issues with field time for that team, as well.
“We’d find out the day of or maybe a few days before when practice was,” Dietz said. “For people on co-op … it was really hard to get around that and work.”
Senior Vice President of Enrollment and Student Life Philomena Mantella said that while Ranley has been committed to finding a way to use university resources to address current needs of club sports, there are still plans for the university to find a long-term solution.
“SGA passed an expanded recreation fee … to expand recreation and club sports activities and hopefully, at some point, have a multipurpose facility that would more permanently handle our needs for recreational facilities,” Mantella said.
Mantella said she thinks the university is coming to a place where it can have all of its housing needs addressed, especially with the construction of Parcel 18. Other institutional needs can soon become the university’s focus, she said.
However, until the university makes plans for a long-term facility, Mantella said she thinks Ranley is taking the right approach with short-term solutions.
