AU students involved in club sports created the Club Sports Presidential Council in October to improve each club’s financial resources.
“I expect them to take action to help the clubs financially and advance club sports to the best of their ability,” said Shomari Kee, the assistant director for the Department of Recreational Sports and Fitness.
This department expanded to include club sports, intramurals and other wellness programs several years ago, according to Kee. Club sports were previously under the jurisdiction of Student Activities.
The department had less money to allocate among its different clubs after the switch because the number of clubs increased while the amount of money remained the same.
Various club sport teams have individually voiced their concerns in the past, but never in such an organized way, Kee said.
Clubs are expected to fundraise at least 75 percent of their allocated funds by the end of the year, according to the department’s policy and procedures website. They are also required to hold two fundraisers each semester as of this year.
However, some members feel the department should try to enlarge the general sum that is allocated for funding, said Julia Bellotti, co-president of the rowing team and a junior in the School of International Service.
“We know that the department gives us as much support as possible, but it gets frustrating knowing that we can only receive so much since the crew team is only one of our club sports groups,” she said. “Crew team gets $5,000 a year and it sounds like a lot, but we spend over three times that in a year.”
The lack of funds can be especially noticed in comparison to other clubs in the Patriot League.
“Though I personally don’t feel like we were ever short on money for the tennis team,” said Jason Gaines, a School of Communication junior and former member of the tennis team, “I did notice that some of the schools we competed with had a lot more money than we did.”
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