The Connecticut College website boasts of twenty-eight varsity teams and hundreds of varsity athletes. The website also mentions that we play in the “New England Small College Athletic Conference” or the NESCAC as it is so awkwardly abbreviated. For a school like Conn to be playing against such incredibly reputable schools as Middlebury, Bowdoin or Williams is a serious feather in the proverbial cap. Conn is an elite liberal arts college and our association with such prestigious colleges only furthers that reputation. Yet, the other schools in the NESCAC not only boast superb academics but superb athletics as well. It’s time Conn starts to up the athletic ante to keep up with our competitors.
Overall I would not say that Conn is a school that takes much pride in athletics. Most students are likely unaware that the Women’s Volleyball team is currently in third place in the NESCAC or that Laura Sanderson ’14 was women’s field hockey player of the week in September. Our attendance at sporting events is sparse and often late, our facilities are lacking and our athletes are generally under represented. The enthusiasm found at other schools is nearly absent at Connecticut College and for a four-year varsity athlete this is beyond frustrating.
With the exception of Bates, who seems to be the perennial NESCAC doormat, most other schools manage to win the occasional championship, some nearly every year. In the last ten years Connecticut College has not won a single NESCAC championship in any sport. Surfing the NESCAC website I couldn’t even find mention of Conn as a runner up. As proof of this I suggest everyone takes a trip to the Athletic Center and checks out our trophy case (if you can find it). We’ve had athletes submit incredible personal records, many all-NESCAC nominees and even a National Champion in the long jump. Yet as a collective, Conn simply does not seem to win or, for that matter, really want to win. Other schools possess a refreshing arrogance about their athletes, building them exclusive gyms and advertising their games as if they mean something. I’m not saying that all of the school’s money should go towards athletics, I’m simply arguing for a change in culture.
I know that some people simply do not care for sports. This is understandable as we all have different tastes and preferences. Just as Shakespeare has rarely appealed to me, soccer may not be your game. Yet I find it nearly inexcusable to lack school pride in the general sense. Some of this fault falls on the shoulders of an ambivalent student body while some of it falls on an athletic department that seems (with a few exceptions) completely stagnant.
Take the main green for example. This area is an excellent place for congregating, barbecues and hacky sack but this should not be its main purpose. The occasional soccer game is played on the green and for these games a relatively large group of students attend, heartily cheering on their fellow classmates. Yet this should be the norm and not the exception. The grass on the green is often poorly maintained forcing soccer and lacrosse to head back down to the artificial turf where they are tucked securely away from the general student body. If someone were to take the initiative and raise the money to put artificial turf on one of the fields of the main green it would be game over, a guaranteed boost in school spirit. Some actual seating around Silfen Field wouldn’t kill us either.
The responsibility of hyping games should not rest solely on the team getting ready for their weekend game. The athletic department should assume some responsibility and make an effort to attract students. A winning season makes a huge difference for a school but a winning season is a pipe dream without a supportive student body. Games should be seen as an exciting opportunity to congregate and enjoy success; they should not be as poorly attended as high school badminton. Where is the booster club? Where is that core of die-hard fans? There is no more tangible way to measure a school’s success than in columns of wins and losses. The school should make a big deal out of athletics all of the time, not simply when the alumni are around.
Building a new gym was an excellent step in the right direction but eliminating the old one in favor of a dance studio made some athletes angry. While other schools have fitness centers built exclusively for their athletes we couldn’t even have the old equipment. Varsity teams attempting to train in the offseason find that there are no fields available (as many club sports have priority) and that poor maintenance often stands in the way. Varsity teams should not be stepping on each other’s toes; they should all have the appropriate space in which to succeed.
The new athletic center was a step in the right direction for Conn's athletic program. (photo from web)
Before fields can be built and new weight rooms erected there has to be a need and a drive from within the school. No one will donate money to build a new locker-room if they cannot brag about their school in the office afterwards. I understand our priorities lie with academics and I support that 100 percent. Yet, I hope in the future that the administration will support athletics in a way they have yet failed to do. Even more than that I hope the student body will support their athletes down the road and will understand the types of opportunities that athletics provide. The Harvard-Yale football game sells out every single year and it would be hard to say that they have sacrificed academics. Everyone needs to start wearing the blue and white and cheering just a little bit harder. There is no pride in the bottom of the standings.
Are you for real on this?:
“If someone were to take the initiative and raise the money to put artificial turf on one of the fields of the main green it would be game over, a guaranteed boost in school spirit.”
Or this?:
“There is no more tangible way to measure a school’s success than in columns of wins and losses.”
Just checking…
If I wasn’t for real Eli, I wouldn’t have put it in the paper.
But I’d love to hear your opinion if you have one of your own. However, just being against my words doesn’t constitute opinion.
It’s a division III school, Nick. Learning, not athletics, should take precedence.
I think the athletes in this school already get a hell of a lot more than anybody else. While I agree that there is a general lack of school spirit, I think that can be attributed to the athletes themselves rather than the rest of the student body. The lacrosse team in particular has a horrible reputation at Conn. Who wants to support people on the field that you don’t really like off of the field?
Also: “Building a new gym was an excellent step in the right direction but eliminating the old one in favor of a dance studio made some athletes angry.” Dance is a huge part of this school’s history, so who cares if some athletes are angry.
Also: “Even more than that I hope the student body will support their athletes down the road and will understand the types of opportunities that athletics provide. The Harvard-Yale football game sells out every single year and it would be hard to say that they have sacrificed academics.” Because they’re Harvard and Yale and have tons of money and don’t need to choose. We’re Conn and we’re broke.
I could pull out your whole article and critique it but I’ve already wasted enough of my time. I really was hoping this was a satire.
Obviously we aren’t Harvard or Yale Eli, thanks for clarifying. However, Harvard and Yale offer competitive sports teams and large events for their alumni to come back to. I understand if you personally don’t want to go to a soccer game on Alumni weekend but hundreds of alumni do and If they leave after a win with a sense of pride they’re far more likely to give money. If you’re removed from academia for so long it’s often difficult to instill a sense of pride without athletics.
And I’m not one to ever downplay the importance of dance or the arts. They’re just as important as athletics. However, to not even give athletes the old equipment in a weight room that is in the Athletics center (not upstairs in Cro in the dance department) is a bit of an odd decision. The schools we compete against offer varsity weight rooms so why not attempt to mimic success?
We also play in a league that offers athletic facilities and athletic teams that outmatch ours. They’re all DIII schools with elite academics. Obviously their athletic success is because of large endowments but the fact is that we play amongst them and year after year seem to settle for the status quo, not putting in the resources when we have the opportunity to do so. Not everyone enjoys athletics but to overlook their benefits is a bit short sighted.
But thanks for the opinion. I don’t think I’ll waste any more of my time on it either.
I think coming from someone as destructive as Nick Rodricks (who was never punished for throwing a fire extinguisher out the second floor of a dorm and potentially killing another student) this article holds little authorial integrity. If you respect our campus so little in this regard (as a representative of the lacrosse team) then I am uncertain about how I can support adding resources for you or going out to watch your team play.
Team Learning: I’m not looking for an argument, thanks. Eli posted his opinion and I think I respected it.
However, I would prefer if you didn’t make up stories about me. I don’t believe my reputation has ever been one of destruction or disrespect to the school. If you want to attack me because I want successful athletics then so be it but get your facts straight before you try.
Next time use your name.
I believe this is a well wrote article that gets at a larger issue on this campus besides just athletics. Going to sports games and cheering on some of your fellow classmates represents an area where all students of the campus can assemble all together and cheer and be proud of the school they attend. Although, I am also for academic success, Nick makes a good point about how other schools such as Williams, have incredible academics on top of being a powerhouse in athletics. As an athlete, I am tired of seeing all of these other NESCAC schools consistently beating us to a point where it seems as Nick so eloquently put it, “it seems as though are athletic department has become stagnant”. Whether you like sports or not is irrelevant, but what this article gets at is one of the many dimensions we as an institution could better for the better of the school community as a whole.
The article makes a good point of describing how, like this past weekend, when alumni come to an event and see a team doing well they are more likely to give money. Schools need money to succeed as we live in a capitalistic society. The more money you get the more resources you can allocate to your students, which will allow them a greater chance of success. People want to be proud of the school they attend and you want to see your Alma mater succeed.
Also, for those of you who want to attack Nick directly about his feelings towards athletics, if you have something to say do the mature thing and respond with an article of your own where you can express your opinions. This article for those of you who were unaware is about “Sports”, so anything you want to argue not relating to that topic is unnecessary.
Once again, this is a well wrote article and Nick, I really hope that in the future the athletic department begins to make some upward mobility so that in the future we can be held evenly with other NESCAC powerhouses.
Well WRITTEN, not well wrote. God.
In response to Team Learning’s post–
Regardless of whether or not you agree with Nick’s opinion on athletics, there is no reason to attack his personal integrity. Nick’s job with the College Voice is to give his opinion. This forum allows us to share our own opinions on issues, but shouldn’t be used to make personal attacks.
Nick is an incredibly respectful person on and off the lacrosse field. As a friend of his, I can tell you that he participates in many different activities and departments on campus and takes the arts and academics very seriously (as a participant and supporter). He is a very good student, musician, writer, and athlete which I think makes him a perfect representative for a liberal arts college. Also, to call him destructive is quite outrageous. He never threw a fire extinguisher out of a window- in this situation, Nick was attempting to intervene. There are some wonderful people on the lacrosse team so it is not fair to attribute negative stereotypes to the whole team or athletes in general.
No, Caroline, the instance Team Learning refers to concerning the fire extinguisher thrown out the window is true, and it needs to be known so that we don’t hold people on pedestals. Nick, I’m sure, is a nice guy with brains, brawn, whatever. But he tossed a fire extinguisher out a window purposefully without paying for it. That’s not very responsible, if you ask me, and he needs to come forward before it turns into something a lot bigger.
Take responsibility for your actions, and until then don’t whine about a school that was up until recently a safe haven for people who didn’t feel the necessity to waste their time screaming about balls being thrown around into various nets. Sports are great and all, but Conn wasn’t meant for pep rallies.
I would pay for it if it had happened. Please just concentrate on the content of the article and I will respond in relation. However, if we want to fabricate claims then I will refuse to respect this forum.
Please, again, use your name so that I understand what issue we are talking about.
I know the instance that Team Learning was talking about – I am not trying to deny that a fire extinguisher was thrown out of the window. My only point about it was that Nick wasn’t the one who threw it- he was trying to stop the kid from throwing it.
Nick is sharing his honest opinion for our school’s newspaper. I don’t think this public online forum is an appropriate place to anonymously attack him- especially when what you are saying isn’t true.
First off, I only wrote the first comment, not the second. I used my actual name because I know how painful it is when you’re bashed anonymously, and I’m sorry that this just happened (Hoobastank? Really? Also, I’m pretty sure the Voice staff knows who you are. That goes for you too, Team Learning). Nick, I actually did write out my actual stance but when I got to addressing the two aforementioned quotes, I wasn’t sure if you were serious and I thought I’d check.
Ripping up the main green, which is by far one of the most important and iconic of our school’s assets, in favor of artificial turf will not be “game over, a guaranteed boost in school spirit.” I would think that this would cause even more campus-wide angst against athletics. More balls slammed against the side of Harkness, less seating area on the green, more obnoxious Top 40 music blasting over half of the campus before games while students are trying to focus in classes, etc.
And your second point, that “there is no more tangible way to measure a school’s success than in columns of wins and losses” is equally laughable. I can think of a few other, tangible indicators that measure a school’s quality; graduation rates, post-grad success, student happiness, alumni giving (which of course is inextricably linked to the fortunes of the Men’s soccer team on Fall Weekend), the quality of the student newspaper, quality of professors, endowments, published faculty, to name a few.
As Hoobastank says, it’s a D-III school, Nick, and student athletes shouldn’t expect top-rate facilities, grandeur or attention. You’re comparing our facilities to schools with immense endowments, some of the oldest and wealthiest schools in the country. Of course we can’t compare to them, and we’ll probably continue to lose to them. But the victories that we do have will mean a lot more to us than for the top-tier schools, because we’re the perpetual underdogs. I know we’re paying a lot of money to go here and you have a right to try to improve the school in what ways you see fit, but if you came to Conn for the athletics, it was your mistake. There are plenty of nearly identical schools you could have gone to with great athletics programs. I, personally, chose Conn because of the limited athletics. My high school was huge and all about lacrosse and hockey, and I basically felt really alienated and hated it. I’m sorry you feel alienated as a “very good student, musician, writer, and athlete… a perfect representative for a liberal arts college,” but I think your article does little to convince people why we should have more school spirit in terms of athletics (I might add that I think there is plenty of non-athletic oriented school spirit…does that count?)
Last thing. I think you should play because you love the game at D-III level, not for the “refreshing arrogance” it affords. Or at least you shouldn’t. Refreshing arrogance? What the fuck does that even mean?
Also, the well-wrote thing really killed me.
Sincerely,
An Over-involved Alumni Voice Reader
Thanks for posting Eli. Sorry for thinking you were Hoobastank.
I respect your opinion to the fullest.
In response to Caroline’s comment, “I know the instance that Team Learning was talking about – I am not trying to deny that a fire extinguisher was thrown out of the window. My only point about it was that Nick wasn’t the one who threw it- he was trying to stop the kid from throwing it,” Connecticut College works under an honor code, and as a result of that code, Nick is required to tell his friends to step forward within 24 hours of the incident. If that doesn’t happen, he is required to report the incident. Because Nick has remained passive in this process, Harkness has accrued huge amounts of dorm damages since the incident. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if this was reported in a timely manner. Would we have so much dorm damage? Maybe it is the same group of people vandalizing the dorm every weekend, and going through the judicial system would have helped them respect our space a little bit more.
Nick – Don’t worry about it. A lot of people confuse me with Hoobastank, which I take as a compliment.
Megan – If you’re actually going to pull the Honor Code card here, why don’t you go and report him for violating the Honor Code? It’s been over twenty four hours and he hasn’t turned himself in (as far as I know)! Otherwise you and every Conn student that reads these ugly virtual allegations with reporting him are in violation!