Over the past few years, Tufts club sports has expanded to include more teams and, consequently, more students. As the program has grown, however, the process of managing and financing club sports has become increasingly complex.
Three years ago marked the beginning of the expansion of the program, according to Assistant Director of Athletics Branwen Smith-King.
We had 11 club sports up until three years ago, she said. There [has] been this upswell of students just wanting to start [sports] clubs, or [who] were already unofficially in clubs ... Two or three years ago ... students were coming to us with a lot of requests, and we just didnt feel good saying no.
In response, Tufts devised two types of club sports: tier 1 and tier II. Tier II clubs would receive, at least, access to oversight, the ability to use the Tufts name and the ability to compete against other schools. When tier II sports began, its teams received no funding from the school.
Thats when I got involved with club sports, Smith-King said. I was given the task of designing tier II. What we ended up doing in the first year was using ... buffer funding to help offset some expenses.
Smith-King manages most of the oversight for Tufts 22 tier I and tier II teams. Eventually, the athletic department began to receive allocated funds for club sports from the TCU Senate.
What was happening [was that] sport groups were going to the senate for approval, Smith-King said. That doesnt make sense ... How can they approve a sports team without communicating to us about space? They were happy to hand that off to us.
This year, the athletic departments monetary allocation for club sports was increased by an additional $35,000. The large increase, however, doesnt necessarily mean adequate funding, according to Smith-King. Team members are required to pay a certain amount of dues, based on their numbers and the coverage that they received.
No matter what we do, were never going to be able to pay for everything, Smith-King said. [Even] varsity teams have to fundraise.
The money gets allocated to each team, and then we have ... a buffer fund, which was developed years ago, she added. For instance, if hockey has a great season and they qualify for playoffs or a postseason tournament, thats what that money [is] for.
Junior Carter Thallon, captain of mens Ultimate Frisbee club team, said his team has received some funding, but much of the expenses were left to team members, particularly in regards to travel.
It might be a little under, but [we were allotted] around $2000, he said. We use it for rental cars, mainly. Dues this year were $350 a person ... and then people buy their own flights [to tournaments], which are about $300 a person. If we make nationals -- thats another flight we have to buy.
Hannah Schuchert, co-captain of the womens rugby, a tier 1 program, reiterated her teams need for funding outside of the universitys resources.
We definitely cant get everything we need with the money we get from Tufts, Schuchert, a junior, said. We look for funding for busses for the games ... Were limited to places we can go to and from in one day because we haven't received funding for overnight [travel] or anything like that.
Schuchert also commented on the other expenses beyond travel that the team incurs.
We look for funding for equipment: balls, jerseys, rucking pads, she said. [Tufts Emergency Medical Services] is another thing we need funding for -- we need TEMS at every practice and every game. We would love to get more [funding]. We dont get all that much from Tufts, from the club sports allotment.
Some sports, as to be expected, are more expensive than others. Clubs like ice hockey and skiing bear higher equipment, practice and travel costs. According to freshman Caitlin Thompson who competes on the equestrian team, group members pay $50 for each of their lessons.
That's the next goal -- to ... continue to get additional funding, so that we can help the more expensive sports operate and have students give less of their own money, Smith-King said.
Smith-King also discussed the financial inequality between the more expensive and less expensive sports.
What was happening was that teams that really didnt need a big budget were getting enough to almost fund their team, whereas [for] some of the more expensive sports, it was barely a dip in the bucket, Smith-King said.
Smith-King discussed the ways in which the athletic department hopes to remedy some of the issues surrounding club sports funding.
Were ... making the team leaders be more accountable, so 15 is the minimum number on club teams, Smith-King said. If we have a sport thats only funding four or five kids, thats not the purpose of the sport. Weve had a few teams that have had challenges ... with their numbers ... I didnt want to disband them, so what I did was say, Okay, youre not getting funding this year -- your goal is to increase your numbers.12
