Varsity vs. club sports at UMSL: my perspective

In a recent letter to the editor a member of the UM-St. Louis In-line Hockey team censured The Current for not covering more of their games, seeing as how they win more than any of the varsity sports. The complaint is justified. Something that represents the University well should get some coverage. Our in-line hockey team is the best in their division and deserves credit.

But exactly what division is that? The letter to the editor gave me an idea of how necessary it is to explain the difference between the types of sports that we have here at UM-St. Louis. Being the best player in the Monday night volleyball league by no means is comparable to playing volleyball for the University, and comparing a varsity athlete to a recreational player would be ridiculous.

The highest level of organized sports here at UM-St. Louis is Division II Varsity Athletics. All sports connected to the Athletic Department, such as basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, etc., are considered to be NCAA sanctioned sports at the Division II level. The level of competition among such athletes is high enough to offer scholarships and be recognized by the University as a whole. There are many recruiting rules that govern NCAA Division II Athletics, and full-time coaches are hired to produce winning teams. NCAA Division II Athletics is a step down from Division I Athletics, which is dominated by big schools like the University of North Carolina or Duke University.

The next level of organized sport at UM-St. Louis is known as "Club" sports. Club sports are organized by either a benefactor or students interested in a particular sport. They may be supported by some affiliate of the University such as Student Life, but they are not considered part of the athletic program and do not represent the school in NCAA Division II Athletics. When a group of students does form an on-campus team, they may then start playing students from other schools who are doing the same thing. NCAA recruiting rules do not cover club sports, but at the same time students don't attend schools to play club sports like they do varsity sports. Our in-line hockey team is a club sport and competes against other Division II schools in an organized club league. Last year they were the champions of that nationwide league.

Intramurals is the lowest level of organized sport at UM-St. Louis. They are leagues organized by dividing the student body into different teams to play one another. There are often times very good intramural teams, and if a team has won the intramural title it may compete against other winning teams from different universities. In the past UM-St. Louis has sent intramural basketball teams to places like Houston and Atlanta to compete against the best teams from other schools.

To further illustrate the difference, I'll use an example. Every year Campus Recreation holds an intramural tennis tournament. The winners are decent tennis players. They defeated all of their UM-St. Louis competition, but does that make them the best tennis players at the University? Of course not. Some of the players that are better are former varsity tennis players that still attend. If they got together to form a club team and competed in a national tournament they would have a very good chance at winning the national club championship (seeing as how several advanced to regionals while playing for varsity). But after winning that championship, would they have the right to claim that they were the only winning team on campus and berate the varsity team for not winning the NCAA Division II National Championship? Again, of course not. While their abilities are impressive against club athletes, they are far from capable of defeating the best varsity athletes and therefore are in no position to judge others. The difference between intramurals and clubs is big, the difference between clubs and varsity is huge.

I think my point is clear. We have athletes that train and work very hard at this University. They play the best, and sometimes lose more than they win. It's part of playing top-notch competition. If anyone can judge them it is people who have filled their shoes, not people who have never competed at their level.