ALEX IN WONDERLAND: Another Breed of Crimson Athletes

In the foggy gray abyss between the well-charted territory of varsity athletes and non-athletes lies a land previously untouched by many members of the Harvard community. It lurks all around us, and its citizens increasingly grow in numbers. And yet it stays just under the radar of the Crimson’s most avid sports fans. This is the world of club sports.

Although this reality is foreign to many Harvard students, it is a place that I have inhabited for the past three years. Joining the Harvard Cheerleading Squad within my first weeks in Cambridge, the in-between sports scene has always been my home. Between our club status in my first two years, and our new technically-JV-but-what-does-that-really-mean designation, being a foggy-gray-area athlete has always kept me guessing about what I’m really in for.

Deciding to be a member of a club sports team has its definite pros and cons. There is a greater degree of freedom to choose which tournaments to participate in and a lesser time commitment than varsity athletics; however, funding is limited and access to most Harvard athletic amenities is strictly prohibited.

For some club sports aficionados, this choice was made for them upon matriculation. Certain very visible club teams, such as Ultimate Frisbee, Rugby, and my personal favorite, Cheerleading, constitute the highest, and only, level of intercollegiate competition available at Harvard—it’s either club or nothing.

Senior Christopher Stevens, two-year captain of the Crimson’s Ultimate Frisbee team, enjoys this distinction.

“We’re allowed to not totally commit ourselves to a schedule of three seasons of workouts, but still compete at a high level and showcase our athleticism,” Stevens said. “[Frisbee] has debated moving up to a JV or Varsity status, but we have remained a club sport because of that freedom.”

The lessened time commitment is a definite perk of club athleticism. In some sports, however, the efforts of fundraising required for competition can equal the lost practice time.

This year, my team entered into its second year as a competitive squad, receiving a bid to the crème-de-la-crème of collegiate cheerleading competitions—NCA Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida. Yet, this amazing accomplishment soon became overshadowed with the costs of the expedition, totaling a whopping $16,000 for entrance fees, travel expenses and lodging. Between practices, two-a-week basketball games, and fundraising to account for the hefty costs, the time commitment to cheerleading began to look like that of a varsity athlete.

Club sports teams do have options for funding assistance built into the Harvard extracurricular net—most notably the UC grants available to all clubs. Ultimate Frisbee applies for the UC retroactive grants, and it gains some support from the Athletic Department’s club sports fund. However, the latter source only covers two tournament fees for the frisbee team, and for cheerleaders, the budget is exhausted after traveling to (required) away football games. Whether it be selling frisbees or advertising cheergrams, club sports teams must therefore find some way to provide for their hefty costs.

Many teams also suffer from a poorly-documented alumni database, which puts a serious dent in the club’s piggybank.

“We’re struggling [with alumni], but we’re trying to figure out who played,” said Stevens, whose team has an alumni network with a thirty-year hole in it. “Hopefully in the future we’ll start contacting alumni and drawing in some funds.”

In addition to funding and related time commitments, my daily life is a personal testament to the gray-area-athleticism paradox. I get to prance around campus in my wildly comfortable gray DHA tuxedo, but since club participants get final picks at the gear, it is sized more appropriately for an offensive lineman than for myself. I also get the opportunity to travel to away football games as part of my team’s budget, although the mandatory trips take place in a white sniper-esque van driven by a coach or teammate. And starting with this season, I get a letter, but it’s minor…what does that even mean?

Club sports provide both opportunities and limitations for those wishing to participate in lower intensity or competition. They allow one to become best friends with Lavietes, Jordan, and Murr, while simultaneously getting barred from Palmer-Dixon and Dillon. However, even with the low rung on the Harvard athletic totem pole, club sports provide an extraordinary outlet for non-varsity students.

“[Frisbee has] certainly been the extracurricular I’ve been most involved in—it’s been my community at Harvard,” Stevens said. “This is an option on campus and it can be a social circle as well as an athletic circle.”

It is true that I wish I could get my DHAs before the end of my season, use the trainer when I become injured, and spend a smaller portion of my life selling cheer paraphernalia to cover competition fees. However, when I pull on my Harvard crimson and white and show off the results of my endless practices, it’s all worth it.

—Staff writer Alexandra J. Mihalek can be reached at amihalek@fas.harvard.edu.