Without additional funding from the University, club sports like the Rugby Club could suffer.
With all the attention given to the “big name” athletics around campus, the University’s Club Sports find themselves at a loss both in finances and status.
Those recently passing through the Wyoming Union have probably noticed the Men’s Rugby team selling raffle tickets to the students and faculty passing by.
The tickets, sold at 10 dollars per ticket, give people the chance to be entered in a drawing for an expense-paid trip to the UNLV football game Nov. 16th in Las Vegas.
The department funding UW Club Sports has agreed to match the Rugby team’s sales for the fundraiser. This means if the team raises $10,000 thousand, which is the maximum amount they will match, the department will then contribute an additional $10,000 to their account.
This rule only applies to Nordic skiing, hockey and to the rugby club sports. A majority of club sports receive no funding at all.
Though this allocation of funds seems generous, in recent years it has not been enough to fund teams like rugby to travel and compete throughout their season.
“To put in perspective how much funding we need in order to travel for our games, it takes approximately $17,000 to send 40 to 50 players to our game in Seattle,” team captain Jonathan Daraie said. “That’s just the cost of one traveling trip,” Daraie said.
Although sports like football and basketball are important to the University, it is often forgotten how much other club sports and activities mean to the students around campus.
Club sports are a great way to bring together different groups of people and play the various games in an atmosphere where winning does not mean everything. Without proper funding for these activities, the school would lose a sense of collaboration among students who enjoy spending their time doing these extra-curricular activities. Not only that, students miss out on the things they love to do most while taking a short break from academic pursuits.
“I don’t think that the University realizes just how much Club Sports mean to our school,” Daraie said. “The students in these different types of athletic programs bring a sense of enthusiasm and joy to sports which is always such an amazing thing to see. I feel that is something that is overlooked far too often.”
