04/24/09 - The University of Rhode Island was faced with a sticky situation last year when it was forced to cut four teams from its varsity program in order to balance the athletic budget. On the chopping block for Rhody were men's swimming and diving, men's tennis, field hockey and gymnastics. Women's lacrosse was also slated to be moved up to varsity.
Since then, only men's swimming and diving and gymnastics have returned to competition and only gymnastics has been granted club sport status. Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn said each team's athletes have exceeded expectations.
"I've gotten to watch the men's swimming and diving club on a number of occasions," Bjorn said. "They have represented the university in an amazing fashion and have had a tremendous amount of success as well."
Bjorn also noted the success of the Rhody gymnasts who recently returned from the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnasts Clubs National Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, earning 11th place out of 61 teams.
"They put in a tremendous amount of time and effort in terms of competition and practice off-campus," Bjorn said. "There are some really driven students there."
Women's lacrosse has remained at the club level this year after yet another $800,000 budget cut stalled its transition to varsity status. Bjorn previously cited women's lacrosse as a sport that is "growing very fast across the country and in the region at the collegiate level," according to the Cigar.
Bjorn says the university is still working toward making funds available in order to move ahead with that transition.
Gymnastics has been granted club sport status, thanks in large part to the dedication of sophomore Erika Sloan, the club's president, and junior Krista Dominici. Both women are the only athletes to return to the team after last year's cuts. The team lost eight women to graduation, and nine chose not to compete again this year.
"I just decided that I wasn't ready to be finished with gymnastics," Sloan said. "Just because the team said that we were no longer a team didn't mean that a team couldn't exist."
Sloan and Dominici recruited 14 new members, utilizing a variety of outlets. They made it a priority to go to former head coach Chelle Kassabian for help because of her connections with Rhode Island gymnastics.
Sloan said Kassabian knew of former gymnasts attending URI who decided against competing on the varsity team. After receiving their contact information, Sloan and Dominici contacted and recruited nine women for the club program.
The remaining five members are all freshmen. Each was recruited either at the club sports fair earlier this year or through Facebook.
"We searched URI students who had gymnastics listed as an interest on Facebook and said, 'Hey are you still interested in gymnastics?'" Sloan said.
After all of their efforts, Sloan and Dominici compiled a team of 16 members.
However, without a president, the club could only be a thought instead of a reality. That job fell into the lap of Sloan, who represented gymnastics at club sports elections held by the Student Senate in September.
The club received unanimous support by the Student Senate.
Sloan cited fundraising as the biggest challenge in running the team. Costs include practice time at Aim High Academy in North Kingstown. Aim High charges $36 per hour to use its facility and the Rhody gymnasts practice three days per week at two hours per session. The team used the facility for one home meet this year as well. Its only other home meet was held at Rhode Island College. Other expenses include covering their coach's salary and all travel expenses.
"We pay for everything that goes into having a competitive season," Sloan said. "It's a big adjustment from last year where we were used to having everything handed to us."
The team has raised money this year by hosting some events including a United States Amateur Gymnastics meet, a gymnastics clinic at a local gymnasium and a number of student events. Sloan said the team also received donations from alumni.
Rhody senior Derek Denard said he experienced the same difficulties while trying to fund the men's swimming and diving club's season.
Denard represented the team at the same Student Senate meeting where gymnastics gained recognition. The club was not granted club sport status after elections, but was allowed to become an official club by the senate. Denard has since passed club president responsibilities on to freshman Matt Zrada.
"After we found out we had been cut, we took a period to reflect on our options and had been presented with an opportunity to compete as a club sport in the Club National Swimming Championships," Denard said. "That sparked a lot of interest in the swimmers that were on the team at the time."
After the team was denied club sport status, competing in the CNSC was no longer an option.
When asked about why the team was denied, club sports president Eric Litvinoff declined to comment.
Still, while gymnastics saw nine eligible women walk away from the sport, men's swimming and diving lost only two, returning nearly its entire team.
"We decided that we wanted to stay here, that we had a future here and that we had things going to keep competing," Denard said.
The team has competed this year by swimming alongside the women's team. By doing this, they have been able to compete against nearly all of the same teams they would have swam against as a varsity program. The only differences are the lack of funding and the inability to compete in any postseason competition.
The team also competed without a coach, using captains to organize practices and lineups.
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