Many students, alumni and members of the campus sports community were happily shocked when the football team broke their seasons-long losing streak at their first home game last season. The football team's unexpected victory was not, however, the only much-talked about sports story last year. The success of the men’s soccer and women’s field hockey teams on the national Div. III level also received their fair share of on-campus attention.
While some varsity teams like football will likely always be championed by alumni, students and the university itself, club sports deserve support from the Tufts community as well. Yet club teams, like women’s volleyball and tennis, whose members are just as passionate and enthusiastic as the varsity athletes, don’t get the same attention or assistance needed to succeed and expand their programs.
It should be said that Tufts has taken significant strides in building a foundation for club sports to continue growing and to solidify themselves as permanent campus fixtures. After an upswing in the number of club teams and increase in student interest in competing at the club level, the university created two separate categories for club sports, Tier I and Tier II, with different benefits for each, according to an Oct. 28, 2009 Daily article. Tier I teams receive significant funding, and those designated as Tier II are allowed to use the Tufts name and compete against other schools. They must also coordinate policies about health and safety with the university. Though Tier II teams were not originally university financed, a March 14, 2014 Daily article reported that, after a reorganization of the fund allocation, these teams also began receiving funding. As the article also noted, however, Tier II teams found that the financial assistance was not enough to cover many of their expenses.
Many of these clubs put a great deal of effort into making their programs run -- time that comes right out of hours that students could spend on academics. Organizing trips to competitions off campus -- for sports like cycling, for example -- is a major part of the club’s activities. For all the effort that teams put in, it’s worth remembering that they schedule and organize without full-time staff employed by the university dedicated to this job. Nor do all the club sports have the same level of access to university medical resources when they get injured.
Many students could say that time and effort goes unaided about their own, non-sports clubs. Nonetheless, all clubs and students should come together and celebrate the passions that our student athletes exhibit on the field, on the court or on the water. The university should take a close look at how much it is funding its club sports and remember how crucial they are in keeping campus life strong, especially as the university continues to expand. Students flock to the possibility of engaging in sports that drive and excite them at the college level, where they can begin to find a way to incorporate those activities into their daily lives. Ideally, our passions should be what bring us to support each other as we build up our club sports for future Jumbos to enjoy.
