By Mari Heenan
Forget varsity. Fairfield University athletics may be put on the map by our club sports teams.
Fairfield’s men’s club volleyball team is ranked 18th in the nation for Division II club teams and is looking to place in the top ten at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association Collegiate Volleyball Sport Club Championships in Salt Lake City that is scheduled to take place from April 13 to the 15.
“We’ve won the New England Collegiate Volleyball League and we’re setting our expectations very high for nationals,” said Mike Murphy ’06, the vice president of the team. “We went to nationals last year too, and we ended up in the silver bracket, which was a good learning experience for the team, and that’s what we’re looking to build upon this year.”
The Stags may face club teams from Boston College, UMass Lowell, Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Yale.
“We get to play against some of the best schools in New England, the competition of play is much higher than I ever thought it would have been” said volleyball team-member Adam Zandonella ’09. “I’m very excited to go to nationals; I never thought that club volleyball was so competitive.”
Men’s volleyball is just one of a number of club sports offered at Fairfield. The list includes men’s baseball, men’s crew, equestrian, men’s and women’s ice hockey, karate, men’s and women’s rugby, ski and snowboarding, and a women’s volleyball team.
The club sports are coordinated by the recreation department on campus and Fairfield’s website says the club sports to be opportunities for participants to “enhance their knowledge and skills in a specific sport, while at the same time enjoying social, cognitive, and physical experiences.”
The club sports differ from varsity in both the overall level of play and the funding. Club sports are allocated a budget from the University but most teams exceed the budget and look to dues from the members or fundraisers to obtain the money they need to enter tournaments, get uniforms, or hire coaches.
“I really like being a captain, especially on a team of such great girls,” said women’s rugby co-captain Lauren Caggiano ’07, “Obviously the time and stress is not comparable to that of a varsity captain, but club sports have responsibilities that varsity sports do not have to worry about. We have to propose budgets, arrange our game schedules, field times, refs and busses. None of that stuff gets done by itself.”
Club sports also provide opportunities for some students to play the sports they love but that they may not otherwise get a shot to play at varsity collegiate level.
“Schools with varsity ice hockey teams that I could make were either too strong or too weak academically for me,” said Justin Eisner ’08, the leading scorer on Fairfield’s men’s ice hockey club team.
“Fairfield was a good fit with its academic reputation and competitive club hockey team. Last season we made it to the semi-finals in the play-offs, so next year we might be looking at some national rankings too.”
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