Club sports need long-term fixes

Problems associated with West Virginia University club sports teams may be simple: better communication, funding and fields.

Solutions to those dilemmas, however, aren't quite as straightforward.

With WVU President James P. Clements in his first year of office, the WVU Sports Club Federation is currently in the process of outlining the issues and explaining its situation to Clements.

Meanwhile, the issues with field space and funding are put on hold.

"It would take a lot of work from a lot of different people to see significant progress within the next few years," said Bruce Brubaker, director of club sports and intramurals at the WVU Student Recreation Center.

While those might take longer to improve, most feel there are viable quick fixes to improve how club sports are treated at WVU.

Nearly all involved said creating a new club sports director position to serve as an advisor to all club sports, and a mediator between the clubs, the University administration and the WVU athletic department, would improve communication.

Brubaker fills that position now but has admitted a graduate assistant would be beneficial, especially with the increased club sports budget.

However, SCF President Ryan Post said while he's all for the creation of the position, it must be a full-time position whose sole responsibility is developing club sports.

"Their duties would mainly involve communications, so they would know who to go to in order to get certain things," Post said. "That kind of knowledge would be lost if it was just a graduate student who was there for just a year and moved on."

WVU Senior Manager of Facilities at the WVU athletic department, April Messerly, said having one representative approach her for field usage instead of multiple club presidents would relieve any confusion.

It would also benefit clubs when they switch presidents, she said.

"When club sports don't have continuity then they might automatically become a little behind the curve just because they don't know who to go to," Messerly said. "This way, all requests can come from that one person and then prioritize them and tell me, ‘let's work on putting these club sports here.'

"It might end up being more fair amongst the club sports (teams)because right now I (schedule fields) first-come, first-served. I've had some clubs contact me for one semester and then not hear from them until two years down the road."

Of course a mediator wouldn't solve all the problems, particularly those involving funding, lack of field space and field up-keeping.

Most clubs said a facility where they could practice and compete without having to deal with maintenance issues would be more helpful than additional funding, adding they could host tournaments on the field, which could create revenue.

Men's rugby head coach Jon Niles holds one tournament every year on St. Francis Fields, which he said generates almost as much as the club's current University allowance of $7,760.47.

An improved facility would also allow clubs to spend more money on items such as equipment instead of having to rent a field.

In addition, it would alleviate funds clubs currently spend on St. Francis Fields for maintenance.

"If they are using their own money and funding to go patch a University field, that's not right," said WVU Student Government Association President Jason Zuccari. "It's time for the University to step up and say ,‘Yeah, we've left these fields unattended for too long.'

"This is a turning point for the University. We've got the new president, it's time to say this is where West Virginia University is going to turn it around a be a leader in this."

Niles proposed the idea of using field turf on St. Francis Fields roughly two years ago, an idea that was welcomed by the University administration. A blueprint was designed that included two separate fields split by a walkway with drainage systems and lights.

However, the design failed to meet the needs of the majority of the club sports teams.

"It needs field turf," Brubaker said. "Turf with lights would not only solve a lot of our problems but it would also get teams away from the Med Center fields and closer to the Recreation Center. We could do flag football, rugby, all kinds of activities.

"Teams could practice from 2 p.m. to midnight if they wanted to."

Clements said improving the University's club sports program is one of his top priorities. He had his first meeting involving club sports with Post, Vice President for Student Affairs Ken Gray and former Morgantown Mayor Ron Justice Wednesday to begin the process of improving the University's club sports program.

"We've had these talks, but now it's seriously time to put the talks into action and say, ‘this is the plan'," Zuccari said. "We need to go to Charleston and get funding for this, and we need to go to the alumni and get an endowment to help pay for a field.

"We need the University to say we are committed to this, and we are going to get the money."