Sport Clubs

Club Sports: Contracted Independent Organizations?

April 06, 2011

Mark Fletcher
Associate Director of Athletics:
Director of Intramural Recreational Sports
University of Virginia

So what is the relationship of Club Sports to your University? Will you provide legal representation for them in a court of law? Is your department responsible for their unpaid hotel bills? Do you make the decision whether they choose to drink alcohol on a road trip?

These types of questions and the actual relationship of Club Sports to the University of Virginia and the Department of Intramural Recreational Sports were reviewed to determine a clarified understanding of the roles and responsibilities of all entities. The end result…….Contracted Independent Organizations.

Read more

Sport Club Travel (Without Advisors)

April 06, 2011

Alan Glick
Assistant Director of Recreational Sports
Virginia Tech

Many college and university Recreational Sports departments do not have the staffing resources or the desire to require a staff member or Advisor to travel with their Sport Clubs. At such institutions, it then becomes imperative for the Sport Club staff to do everything in their power to ensure the safety of their students as they prepare to get behind the wheel to travel hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles to compete in their sports.

There are a number of pro-active steps that Sport Club staff can take to help students deal with the responsibilities and inherent risks associated with traveling on their own:

Read more

Sport Club Travel (With Advisors)

April 06, 2011

Rob DeFazio
Director of Campus Recreation
St. Bonaventure University

Chaperone, babysitter, Advisor, figure head, just along for the ride? Volunteer, or paid? Assigned or chosen? Does it matter when it comes to the safety of our students?

When a Club Team travels there are greater concerns than if everyone brought their cleats for the game. Who is driving, what are they driving, and who is capable of driving? Many clubs operate on limited budgets and leave it to students to arrange game, travel, and hotel accommodations. No matter where you live, traveling can be an adventure with a Club Sport Team. Club Teams will travel many distances and endure many different types of weather, and deal with many different personalities along the way. This is where the Advisor comes into play.

Read more

Equipment or Weapon?

April 06, 2011

Developing Policies for Use of Martial Arts and Other Sports Weapons

Tamsen K. Burke
Associate Professor, Asst. Chair,
University of Chicago

In 2004, a student entered a university athletic facility with a ‘kama’ intending to practice the weapon in an area which was identified as the dance/martial arts room. If you are unfamiliar with a kama, it is a weapon of Okinawan origin that resembles a traditional harvesting sickle. The student was stopped at the facility entrance and questioned about his affiliation with a recognized martial art club. Having no such affiliation, the student explained that he wanted to use the room to practice with the weapon. He was denied access and the campus police were contacted to escort him from the premises. The weapon was confiscated and the student was arrested for carrying a dangerous weapon on university property.

Read more

Hazing in Campus Recreation: Part I

March 31, 2011

It’s Not Just a Greek Thing

Jean McClellan-Holt, Ed.D, CRSS
Assistant Director, Recreation & Wellness
Old Dominion University

What’s the big deal about hazing — it’s just kids being kids, just fun and games. In the past, many college presidents encouraged hazing – to them hazing taught precedence, built school loyalty, and assimilated students from all economic classes (Novak, 2009). Hazing builds character and shows what you’re made of. Hazing is a Greek thing — we don’t need to worry about it in Campus Recreation —right? WRONG!!

According to the National Study of Student Hazing (Allan & Madden, 2008), hazing in sport clubs ranked #3 with 64% of the respondents reporting at least one hazing incident affiliated with their efforts to join or remain on a sport club team. Intramural sports ranked # 6 with 49% of the respondents reporting at least one hazing incident affiliated with their efforts to join or remain on an intramural team. Hazing is not just a “Greek” issue, it is a societal issue. Hazing can lead to humiliation, physical and psychological injury, even DEATH. If hazing is such a bad thing WHY is it still so prevalent in our society? Before one can tackle the issue of why hazing is so prevalent in our society, it would be helpful to define hazing. This is a difficult task because hazing is such a broad term. A plethora of activities can be considered to be hazing, and in some cases an activity may be hazing to one person and may not be hazing to another person.

Read more

Hazing in Campus Recreation: Part II

March 30, 2011

It’s Not Just a Greek Thing

Jean McClellan-Holt, Ed.D., CRSS
Assistant Director, Recreation & Wellness
Old Dominion University

Part I of this article focused on the definition of hazing, the types of hazing (Subtle, Harassment, and Violent), and delved into why hazing is so prevalent in society. Part II will focus on hazing prevention coalitions at two major universities.

In the past ten years, hazing has become more violent, more humiliating, and more sexual (InsideHazing.com, 2010). Fortunately, a lot is being done to promote the prevention of hazing. These initiatives include the formation of specialized anti-hazing organizations, the passage of anti-hazing laws on the state level, and the creation of collaborative hazing prevention programs at colleges and universities throughout the nation. Two such programs are the very successful Hazing Coalition at Florida State University, and a rather new program at Auburn University.

An email with questions on the creation of the Hazing Coalition was sent to Dr. Adam Goldstein, Associate Dean of Students at Florida State University, and Paul Kittle, Director of Greek Life at Auburn University. Below are their responses to these questions.

Read more

For more information on our Online Courses,
contact us now!