The Life of a Club Sport Athlete
At Bradley University there are 27 different club sports, which range from conventional such as baseball and basketball, to the obscure such as rocking climbing and bass fishing. No matter what the sport all club teams have two things in common, a love of their respective sport, and the need to raise the appropriate funds for their team. What separates the competitive club teams from the more casual is their ability to compete both on the field and financially.
The Bass Fishing team was founded on the idea that a few friends who had competed in high school might as well try to form a team in college. The club baseball team however was established enough to be an influencing factor in someone’s college decision. The club fencing team is an amalgam of both the more casual approach found in bass fishing, and the more established, competitive approach found in the club baseball team. In fencing the older, more experienced fencers spend most of their practice time teaching the basics to casual fencers who are learning the very basics of the sport. Those same teachers then have to turn around and get themselves ready to compete for a chance to win their next tournament. One of the major similarities between the three different levels of club sports is how funding affects their ability to compete at the casual, intermediate, and competitive level.
The casual level of competition is best exemplified by the Bradley Bass Fishing team, Ryne Krall and two friends decided during their sophomore year that they would like to have a bass fishing team and started one up at Bradley.
When it comes to funding their ability to compete Krall said, “We have a couple members that have their own boats, so those are the ones that we use, and everyone has their own rods, reels, and tackle.” He continued “Bradley gives us some money for the entry fees into the tournaments, the local tournaments have entry fees, but the national tournaments (associated with Fishing League World Wide) do not have entry fees.”
When the Bass Fishing team wants to compete they utilize their limited funds to the best of their ability. Bradley helps fund the entry fee to local tournaments where the team saves on travel costs. In tournaments where travel would cost more the entry fee is waved allowing the team to only worry about providing for their own travel and housing costs. This keeps the cost of participation to a minimum for the casual club team.
The club baseball team is one of the serious and competitive club teams and takes their finances seriously as well. They have a rigorous Schedule playing in the National Club Baseball Associations second division against Northern Illinois, Wisconsin and even Winona State in Minnesota and regularly practice three times a week.
Sophomore outfielder Griffin Sassano outlines the cost as a simple $120 a year per player. Sassano says the fee goes into financing, “hotel expenses, money towards renting out the field that we play on, equipment and other things we may need throughout the year.” Sassano continued, “The university (also) donates money each year, (to purchase) a new bat for the team, and hopefully we get a little more funding for new jerseys next year.”
This keeps the team well funding and lets them know exactly where they stand in regards to funding. The 15 regular members provide a steady and consistent budget, which allows them to compete at a high level on a consistent basis.
At the intermediate level of involvement is fencing. The club believes that it should simultaneously compete at the highest level, and train complete novices in the ways of fencing. Erik Brady, the senior president of the club fencing team, has little cost on the casual side. They utilize a space in Markin Recreational Center and allow newcomers to train on the equipment that the team owns and maintains. On the competitive side however, fencing is an expensive endeavor. Last semester, in an attempt to be more competitive, the fencing team hosted a tournament.
Brady said that the main cost was finding referees for the tournament, “(it) depends on where they are coming from, you have to pay for their travel costs, housing that they may need, (and) feed them. I think the overall cost for the tournament was around $3,000 dollars.”
The club made up the cost of the tournament by charging the other nine teams a customary entrance fee of $250 dollars. The remaining cost of the tournament was $500 dollars, a cost that the university helped to offset.
What they lost in money however they gained in giving a chance for their casual club members to experience what a real fencing tournament is like and gain valuable experience in the sport. Brady described this as, “My favorite moments aren’t stuff that’s happened for me, its more seeing our members that are just coming into the sport that are trying out tournaments for the first time, winning their first bouts.” He continued, “most of the time you’re going to lose a lot when you start out so when people first win their first bout that’s the most fantastic thing for me.”
This is the constant struggle of financing a club sport at Bradley University. Some clubs want to swing for the fences, like the well-organized and funded Bradley baseball team. Some prefer to casually compete, like bass fishing, in the tournaments that are easy for them to compete in both logistically and financially. Or with fencing in their constant push and pull between wanting to compete at the highest level and get the rewarding time of teaching new members the sport that they love. All the club sports want is a chance to compete, not necessarily in front of large crowds or to go for the championship, but for the love of their game.
By: Andrew Hegseth and Danielle Snyder