Budget cuts hurt club sports

Women's rugby searching for new ways to fund team

By: Russell Blair

Posted: 11/19/08

Shards of glass, sharp rocks and odd smells - what sound like the makings for a horrific science experiment are the conditions the UConn women's rugby team faces each time they take the field at Depot Campus after university-wide budget cuts.

UConn's Club Sports Council, following the trend of many other organizations on campus, has had its budget substantially cut, passing the effects on to the many teams it oversees. In response, individual teams have turned to their own fundraising efforts to recoup losses.

The UConn women's rugby team came up with the idea of a flag football tournament, charging $5 for each participant.

"This is the first time we've had to do anything like this," said Kristen Koltan, fundraising chair for the team. "We are usually told upfront how much money we're going to get and plan our season accordingly. It's hard to fundraise when you're practicing four days a week and playing games."

The team currently plays and practices on the same field at UConn's Depot Campus with conditions they described as deplorable. The university had planned to renovate the field this fall, but due to budget cuts rebuked its offer.

"It really sucks," said player Gillian Holland. "We planned our schedule around them fixing the field so we had all away games but one this semester. We had to use extra money to pay for buses to go to those games that were all over an hour-and-half away. If we had known ahead of time we could have saved a lot of money and played in front of our friends and families here."

"When we did play our one home game we had to do a field check before and go around picking up pieces of glass," said captain Melissa Clark.

At this point, it is increasingly hard for the team to get schools to play at their home site, which they now refer to as nothing more than a "dirt pit."

In addition to having their field go another year without renovation, the team no longer receives enough money to travel to all of the tournaments they have been attending yearly since the club's formation.

"Our biggest concern right now is the NashBash tournament in the spring in Nashville (Tenn.)," Holland said. "We've gone every year, and if we don't get a chance to go it's going to be really disappointing. That's what we're trying to raise money for."

For now, the team has turned unconventional methods to attend two fall tournaments in Boston and New York.

"Later this month we're going to the New York Sevens tournament over Thanksgiving Break," Holland said. "We got enough money to register but not enough to cover a hotel. Luckily, I live in New York so some of the girls are staying at my house, but it shouldn't have to be like that."

When searching for new jerseys, the team once again turned to means other than the university. They were able to secure a donation from the National Guard who donated the team jerseys, albeit with the National Guard logo on them.

"We still need to get the money to embroider them," Clark said. "Currently we don't have a full matching set of uniforms."

For now, the team continues to work on fundraising efforts, including reaching out to both students and alumni. In a fundraiser held last week at the Friendly's in Storrs, the team raised over $400 selling t-shirts but still needs to make an additional $900 if they hope to attend NashBash.

"I think we may have relied a bit too much on university funding in the past," Clark said. "It was a harsh reminder that maybe all along we should have been doing our own fundraising."

"It's not really fair," said Katherine Tudan. "We practice four days a week, we have games every weekend and we play in the fall and the spring. And yet, the university, and even sometimes the Club Sports Council, doesn't treat us like a real sport. That's all we want."

"The women's basketball team has embroidered sports bras and we can't even get a safe place to practice and play," said Holland. "It's ridiculous."