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Ultimate frisbee, anyone?

Arizona Daily Wildcat

How many freshmen actually turned up on Monday night, August 23rd at the Rec. Center? It was the 'Wildcat night' where different sports clubs were trying to recruit students. Let me rephrase the question: how many freshmen knew about this event? There were no conspicuous banners and no posters inviting freshmen to the Rec. Center to join these clubs.

Even though 35 clubs participated, many left before 8 p.m., frustrated by the lack of interest in their club, not waiting until the 9 p.m. closing time. The Rec. Center no doubt, was bursting with students but there were just a few who took some time out to enroll for the different clubs. The ones who did just that seemed to sign up for the popular clubs like Men's Rugby, Women's Lacrosse, Men's Lacrosse, Ultimate Frisbee, Badminton, Women's Rugby, Women's Soccer, Table Tennis, and Shorin Ryu Kenshin Kan Karate team. Was it the trophies displayed which attracted the students to these clubs, or was it just divine intervention on their behalf?

Not many of these clubs seemed to be choosy on taking students. They didn't care if the students were good or even if they knew the rudiments of these games. Nearly all the clubs seemed to accept students who were interested and were prepared to teach them from the scratch. All these clubs are managed and run by students. Mary O'nahmahoney, assistant director of the sports club said, "You have to love the sport because you have to practice three to four hours a week, pay a fee of 100 to 900 dollars per year, depending upon the club which pays for traveling for tournaments. Students participate in fund raising programs as well for the clubs." O'nahmahoney's job, as she described it, is to let clubs do what they do.

Why aren't games like soccer and table tennis supported by the University the way they take care of American Football. Why aren't the good players and potential students trained and looked after the way football players are?

The men's and women's lacrosse team, the men and the women rugby team, the badminton team and some of the martial arts clubs, stayed until the end. These were the clubs that had many eyes on them and were successful, as they had won some tournaments in the past. What seemed obvious in this event was that these teams were really working hard with their members to be the best and go to some tournaments. Many clubs that I interviewed were proud of some recent tournament in which they reached some prestigious position. The coach of the men's lacrosse club, Mickey-Miles Felton, says that his club, the Laxcats, wants lots of fans and lots of people to have the 'Laxcat fever'. Come and see the matches, he says, smiling proudly, "We are going to win the National Championship in May next year.". The men's lacrosse team finished 9th at last years National Championship at St. Louis, Missouri.

Susan Rusnak, a representative of the women's rugby team said, "We are a fun bunch and we also take students who have not played this game before." They have already won four trophies. Alex Pagonis and James Kar of the Men's Rugby Club mentioned that they won the Southern California Rugby League, and their team is in the top ten of the nation. Erin Duschatko of the women's lacrosse team said that "our division won in the third league last year at the Western Women's Lacrosse, where teams from all over California and the whole west coast participated."

When we have some really good talent among our students, why doesn't the university give them the benefits and funding that the football players enjoy? Maybe it's not possible to do that to so many clubs, but it is always possible to help out some core group of talented students in a few clubs.