SEAN MCGRATH
Sports Editor
The Club Field Hockey team faces financial issues this season as they raise funds for new equipment. The resources they have now — including goals, nets, and other equipment, are all unusable at this point, forcing the team to replace their supplies.
The equipment was in rough shape to start off, but the team hoped to play on with that they had anyway. It was an unfortunate circumstance that the team found out late this summer that the equipment had been disposed of and the team was no longer able to use the nets it required. But because the team is a club team and not a varsity team, the problems are being handled all by the students themselves with others only trying to help.
In an effort to hopefully get its season underway, team member Lindsay Adams took to a crowdfunding site, called GoFundMe.com, in hopes that former alumni, students and community members would donate to their cause.
So far, $785 of the team’s $3,200 goal has been raised under the account “Help Save Fredonia Field Hockey.”
They’ve received 11 donations, which range from $10 to $250 dollars, all going toward the effort.
SA President Antonio Regulier said he wished he had been told about the situation earlier.
“The Student Association is not at all happy with the events that happened in accordance to Club Field Hockey. However, the Student Association was not directly informed by the club which made the mishap grow into something bigger than need be,” Regulier said. “Know that the Student Association will be working with Club Field Hockey, the Athletic Department and the Office of Student Affairs to rectify this problem. The Student Association also encourages recognized groups to first contact us should an issue like this occur. We are here to represent your group’s interest and protect your groups integrity.”
The team has also reached out to President Virginia Horvath in order to receive funds, but she regretfully informed them that she was unable to purchase things for student groups but was willing to help out as much as she could at getting them help.
President Horvath then reached out to Athletic Director Greg Prechtl, who offered to use part of the Athletics and Recreation budget to try and cover half of the price of the nets and equipment.
The information was put forward to SA General Manager Vince Gugino, who stated that he would like to help, but that there will be polices and budget restrictions that will accompany the request.
“For the past several years the field hockey goals have been in bad shape. I am not sure of the exact condition, but I have been told that they were no longer usable,” Gugino said. “In prior years, the club had mentioned that their goals needed to be replaced but they did not have sufficient funds. New goals can be expensive and the ones the club is looking at cost around $3,000. Megan Valentine, Assistant Athletic Director, has been helping the club find suitable new goals.”
Trouble mounted for the team since they are considered financially independent from Student Association, and while they are able to request up to $1,500 dollars from a limited pool of funds, about $1,000 of those funds go to paying for officials to come down and officiate the games that they do play. Adding more problems, these funds are also available to the other nearly 150 non-constituted groups, since SA must treat these groups equally due to SA policies.
In order for them to request funds over the given amount, a formal request must be filed with the SA’s budget committee, who then puts it before the General Assembly for approval.
The team was forced to reschedule this past weekend’s game against St. Bonaventure and the rest of September’s games, with October as a hopeful return date.
“We are greatly appreciative for all the support that our families, friends, faculty [and] peers have already given us and continue to give us,” Club Field Hockey President George Verno said. “Our gofundme account has raised a ton of money. We would also like to thank the grounds staff for everything that they do for our team and the rest of campus. Their efforts often go without recognition.”