Rec Center hub for club sports

The heart of West Virginia University club sports lies inside the school's Student Recreation Center.

It is there that all presidents and captains of West Virginia's 29 club sport teams execute all of their daily operations, from team purchases to securing field space.

The person in charge of handling all of those needs: Bruce Brubaker, the director of intramural and club sports at WVU.

"Originally, my job description said 95 percent intramurals and 5 percent club sports," Brubaker said. "Obviously, that number has changed drastically over the past 10 years."

There were 12 club sports when Brubaker first took over the position 10 years ago, but due to increasing interest in club sports among students at WVU, Brubaker now estimates that his time is equally split between club sports and intramural activities.

When necessary, Brubaker serves as the liaison between the University's administration and club sports when organizing special events for these teams. On more of a daily basis, he is in charge of managing the budgets for all of the 29 teams and organizing the practice times at St. Francis Fields – the primary practice and competition area for club sports located directly across from the Evansdale Residential Complex.

However, Brubaker admits that after the University awarded the school's Sports Club Federation a one-time budget increase of $25,000 before the school year, along with the continual growth of students' interest in club sports, his job has once again become much more complicated.

"I consider my job very essential, especially with the latest budget increase," he said. "My job is most definitely working because I think I help better suit the students' interests and needs.

"But if we get another huge budget increase, it'll come to the point where we may need to get a graduate assistant to help out."

Brubaker's work has become almost "overburdening" as SCF and WVU cycling club President Ryan Post described it.

"He also does intramurals and manages some parts of the Recreation Center; it's hard on him," Post said. "With the increase in funding and the student interest, sometimes I'm sure it's hard for him to keep in touch with all aspects of it."

Brubaker's top priority each year is to meet with all of the club sports' presidents and organize a practice and game schedule for St. Francis fields as well as the intramural fields located near Ruby Memorial Hospital.

The schedule, he said, is usually easy to organize. Club Men's and women's rugby and club men's and women's soccer take up the majority of time on St. Francis fields. On a typical week, practices are held from 4 p.m. to dark Monday through Thursday while games are held on weekends.

With the high demand for the fields, the University and SCF have looked into alternatives including fieldturf for St. Francis or even adding a second student recreation center on the Downtown campus.

"If you look, for instance, at the Rec Center – it's always crowded," said former WVU President Michael Garrison. "We had discussions of having a second Rec Center or enhancing what exists downtown, for example Stansbury or building a new one downtown.

"In addition to that, the University could always join up with the city to do a multipurpose facility for club and rec sports."

The heavy usage has ultimately created an unsafe playing surface at the St. Francis fields, making it hard for clubs to practice and discouraging them from hosting tournaments due to safety concerns.

The field's condition has also forced teams such as the club soccer teams to travel to Point Marion, Pa., to have games.

"I wouldn't want to reserve that field," said a member of the women's rugby team. "There are holes on that field, there is glass on that field. That field is terrible."

While not all club sports necessarily need a field to practice or play on, all have to work under the University-set budget. The system became even more complicated this year with WVU funding club sports based on community service hours.

All University-based money is kept on a WVU procurement card, a card similar to a personal credit card that is used to make purchases for the teams.

To make a purchase, the club's president must come to Brubaker and make a direct transaction either online or over the telephone.

"We can't purchase something and then get a refund. So we have to send an invoice to the Recreation Center for them to pay it via credit card," Post said. "If a business charges 3 percent for using a credit card, we have to pay it."

Since the University requires an invoice for a purchase, clubs are also put in a bind when it comes to paying tournament entry fees.

Most tournament organizers are usually students themselves and don't have the proper authorization for receipts.

That's when the team has to use its own checking account, which is supported by fundraisers or donations.

"We usually pay the smaller fees out of our checking account because it's such a hassle to make them through the school," Post said.

The University also does not allow hotel rooms to be booked in its name in case "something happens," Post said.

"Both funding and fields are top priorities, most definitely, but we need to find strong balance between the two," Brubaker said. "We're definitely on the right path. Obviously, they have the president's ear, and the campus knows what's going on.

All the ducks are in the row, we just need the higher administration to hear the needs of club sports."