Stature rising for club sport

By Jeremy Herb

Santa Clara men's lacrosse begins its season Saturday looking to improve both its 10-7 record from last season and how it functions as a club sport.

The squad has only eight upperclassmen on its 32-man roster and lost four of its top six scorers from last season. While Coach Gary Podesta said his team's 12 freshmen are talented, he admitted it will take time for the Broncos to gain experience.

"There won't be immediate results because we've got a lot of freshmen coming in," senior defenseman Stephen Batey said. "Getting them acclimated is going to be difficult."

Podesta said that he was able to recruit 14 players this year and 18 in 2005, despite receiving no funding from the Athletic Department because lacrosse is a club sport rather than a varsity sport.

The difference between the two is varsity sports are part of the NCAA and their athletes can receive financial aid. Club sports are under the direction of Campus Recreation rather than the Athletic Department.

The problem, according to Lacrosse Team President Peter Schmidt, is that whenever the team needs funds, they must go through both recreation and Associated Students, and both require different paperwork.

Club sports also have difficulty with limited field space because Bellomy Field is used for both club sports and intramurals. Men's lacrosse can only practice on Bellomy eight hours per week.

Last month, however, the club teams put together a proposal they submitted to Associated Students that would reorganize club sports. The plan would create a Club Sports Director and Club Sports Council to oversee the teams.

The council would be responsible for evaluating the club sports policies and would make funding recommendations to the university.

The proposal also established criteria for determining what defines a club sport, as well as dividing the sports into different tiers.

Men's lacrosse is one of teams that would be in the highest tier, along with women's lacrosse, men's and women's rugby, and men's volleyball. They earned this distinction because their leagues have a national governing body and they play at least four away games each season. Under the proposal, sports in the highest tier would receive priority for funding and field usage.

Last Saturday, the Broncos scrimmaged the University of California at Santa Cruz. Santa Clara won, but the 8-7 final score was closer than the Broncos would have liked, as the Banana Slugs are in a lower division than Santa Clara.

"The team showed their youth and how early it is in the season," Podesta said. "It was a sloppy game."

When Podesta arrived at the university in 1983, men's lacrosse was a part of the athletic department's decision to take over some of the recreational sports. Even though they received minimal funding, men's lacrosse was a varsity sport.

Then, in 1993, when football was discontinued, lacrosse soon followed and transition into a club sport. Podesta, however, said the switch was "100 percent justified" because of funding issues.

"We haven't changed anything (since we became a club)," he said. "The only thing that we lost was playing varsity schools from the East."

Every player on the men's lacrosse team has to pay $500 in dues for the year. The team's trip to the East Coast during Spring Break costs an additional $625 to cover travel.

"It's difficult because we play a varsity schedule," senior midfielder Matt Reardon said. "We put in five or six days a week with practicing and playing games, so we're paying to play the same amount and the same time commitment."

Player dues provide a majority of lacrosse's funding, along with parent and alumni donations, according to Podesta. As a club sport, men's lacrosse receives $500 in funding from AS.

The Broncos are apart of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League, which has 18 teams in all, including Stanford, Cal, St. Mary's and Cal Poly.

The WCLL is one of nine conferences that make up the national U.S. Lacrosse Men's Division Intercollegiate Associates. According to its Web site, "The USL MDIA exists to provide a quality college lacrosse experience where varsity lacrosse does not yet exist."

The league is structured in a similar manner as the NCAA. It has eligibility rules, national rankings, All-Americans and a national championship.

Almost every team in men's lacrosse on the West Coast is apart of the MDIA rather than the NCAA. In California, only two men's lacrosse teams are in the NCAA: Notre Dame de Namur and Whittier College, which are in Division II and III, respectably. Neither team is a part of an NCAA lacrosse conference.

Because a majority of NCAA Divison I teams are in the East, the level of play between the two coasts is significantly different. Schmidt explained that most teams in the Broncos' league have a handful of players that could play on an NCAA team, but every player on the top teams in the East are Division I caliber.

"There's a lot more finesse with those guys," Batey said. "They've been playing since they were six. They have better skills with the stick, and they're in better shape than we are because all they do is practice."

Steps have been taken to improve lacrosse's popularity in the Pacific time zone. The San Jose Stealth, a professional indoor-lacrosse team, were created in 2004, and have helped raise lacrosse's recognition level in the Bay Area.

"It does a really good job pulling kids into the sport," Schmidt said. "My experience going to Stealth games, it's usually a younger crowd."

Podesta admitted the chances of Santa Clara reinstating men's lacrosse as a varsity sport were low without outside help.

The NCAA requires that teams play 10 games against varsity opponents, and with only two teams in California, it would be a costly requirement for Santa Clara to fulfill.

According to Podesta, a more likely scenario would be if the West Coast Conference mandates lacrosse as a varsity sport. The WCC would need at least six teams in order to create a conference, and should that occur, it would give Santa Clara at least five other teams in the West to help meet the 10-game requirement.

"Within 8 to 10 years," Podesta said, "We will see more and more California kids popping up on East Coast teams if varsity is not on the West Coast."

He added that even if Santa Clara would become a varsity sport, their current team would probably play on a Division III level.

"It's slowly improving, but the NCAA is a whole different animal," Podesta said. "It's like a full time job. Athletes are going to the school to play lacrosse and then get an education. Here, it's the opposite."

Contact Jeremy Herb at (408) 551-1918 or jmherb@scu.edu.