For the first time since 2001, Tufts' women's ultimate team is headed to Nationals.
This accomplishment is the result of practice and dedication that began for this group four years ago, when the seniors and the team's coaches, Alicia Kersten and Sangwha Hong, arrived at Tufts.
The human cost is matched by a financial one; due largely to the Ewo's club team status, the funding the team receives from the Athletics Department will not nearly cover the cost of travelling to Columbus, Ohio in late June for Nationals.
"The sport is getting so competitive that to compete at the higher, upper level and to play against the top teams, you need to sacrifice both financially and of your time," Hong said.
"There's a big difference between teams that do well and teams that don't," she continued. "First of all, the teams that do well have coaches, and secondly, they're getting financial support from their school. I would say our funding is about 60-40, with the lesser amount being from the school."
Senior co-captain Elana Eisen-Markowitz cited the team's club label for the limited financial support it receives.
"While Carol Rappoli and the Tufts Club Sports program has tried to be helpful, and they have been really great this year, there's kind of no way we can do everything we need to do in order to be Nationals-level with the small budget and little guidance we get from the school," Eisen-Markowitz said. "This year, our A-team shelled out close to $700 from their own pockets to play Frisbee, which, for many of us, meant working all year and serious amounts of fundraising."
"That really sucks," she continued. "But it's also hard to argue with Tufts to give us more money, because we are a club sport."
In addition to limiting funding, the EWo's non-varsity status has garnered them relatively little campus attention.
"Except for the men's team and my close friends, nobody I know at Tufts really knows or cares about women's ultimate," junior handler Caroline Chow said.
Eisen-Markowitz cited the lack of awareness and misconceptions surrounding the sport.
"Most kids, including myself, just don't hear of Ultimate until they get to Tufts," senior captain Elana Eisen-Markowitz. "And then, what they know is that it's a marginalized club sport, and they think it's a bunch of barefooted hippies, which couldn't really be further from the truth.
"I came here as a soccer player," she continued. "I even played Tufts JV soccer for three years. But that's the story from most of us - we're athletes from other sports that got drawn to Frisbee because it's fast-paced, exciting and massively athletic at its top levels - you're running basically the whole game."
