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Variety

Variety

The Flat Hat | Tuesday, September 8, 2020 | Page 7

JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT

Sept. 3, William and Mary announced the discontinuation of seven sports teams, including men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s indoor and outdoor track and field and women’s volleyball. College announces discontinuation of seven varsity sports teams

Decision comes after Tribe Athletics budget reductions due to the effects of COVID-19

SPORT CANCELLATIONS from page 1

had to try to process the news while dealing with the reactions of the public.

“The call happened, they told us our programs were being cut, and at the same time they broke the news to the public,” Marsh said. “So before the call was over, I was getting texts, I was getting calls from people all over the country sending me their condolences, and I hadn’t even had time to process it myself yet.”

Bull added that emotions were high for both the athletes and coaches after the call.

“At 3:45, our coaches had a meeting so we could all zoom right afterwards,” Bull said. “Basically, it was just, everyone was upset. Kelly, one of our coaches, was just crying, she was really upset.”

Around 4 p.m., the athletes of the discontinued teams were notified that Tribe Athletics had arranged for all the teams to gather on the football field.

“They gave all the teams who were being cut a chance to come to the field and gather in a place as a team,” Marsh said. “They said we’re cutting your team, be at this field at five o’clock if you want to talk to each other.”

The gathering occurred three weeks after an Aug. 21 email by the Dean of Students office, announcing a zero-tolerance policy in regard to large gatherings at the College during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Large student gatherings of any kind — both on- and offcampus — are not permitted,” Dean Marjorie Thomas said in the email sent to students. “Students may not gather in groups of more than 10 people.”

All seven teams were brought to the football field at the same time to interact with their fellow athletes over the news.

With the discontinuation of these sports, many athletes will look into transferring. For small programs like men’s gymnastics, this process can be especially difficult.

“Men’s gymnastics is rare,” Marsh said. “It is a small sport, and there are maybe 14 programs at the NCAA level. So when they were talking to us about transferring, it didn’t sit right with me because they know it’s not an option. What they did was they just trophy-hunted our sport. This is a fatal blow to NCAA Men’s Gymnastics. Iowa, they cut their team two weeks ago, we got cut this week. That pattern, it’s going to continue, and Men’s Gymnastics will not exist at the NCAA level because of this decision.”

Many of the discontinued sports are smaller teams who are not given much funding, but whose athletes are extremely successful in their sports and in the classroom.

“I am just so frustrated, I don’t even have the words for it,” Bull said. “A lot of the programs that she cut are the ones that have really done well athletically and academically, so it’s really frustrating to see that even though our programs are doing so much for the school, albeit they’re not, like revenue generating, that she just doesn’t seem to care about that. It just really makes me feel like she has absolutely no compassion for how programs can be special without having to generate revenue for the school.”

Men’s and women’s swim alone has won eight CAA Championships, all of them coming in the last 15 years.

The men’s and women’s gymnastics teams have amassed 10 ECAC Championships between them, and the men’s team consistently has athletes honored as All-Americans, including 23 in the last three seasons alone. Women’s volleyball has won eight CAA championships.

Men’s track and field has had six athletes honored as AllAmericans in the last five years, while also winning five CAA championships since 1990.

“The impact of our program on this school, considering how small we are, is insane, it’s unreal,” Marsh said. “We had three Phi Beta Kappa Initiates last year, including most outstanding initiate, and Thomas Jefferson Award winner, and that’s just within the past two years. We have National Championships; we have Conference Championships; we send people to NCAA Championships regularly, we send people to finals; we have All-Americans. We are incredibly distinguished athletes and scholars all around. We have one of the highest GPA’s in the Athletic Department — we consistently do. And not only that, we have won the academic championship at least eight times. We are self-functioning; we fund ourselves; we don’t give out scholarships; we have our own facility off campus, so we are a very low-impact sport when it come to the Athletic Department, but we yield them all these benefits.” Men’s gymnastics will not exist at the “ NCAA level because of this decision.” -Christian Marsh

SPORTS OPINION Former swimmer offers open letter to Athletic Director Samantha Huge

Loss of program creates far-reaching effects in tight-knit Tribe swimming community network

GRACE OLSEN FLAT HAT VARIETY ASSOC. EDITOR

The Tribe swimming family extends beyond just swimming.

When I toured colleges back in my high school junior spring, I did not want to go to the College of William and Mary. I’m from Williamsburg and grew up swimming for Tribe swim alumni. I thought I had experienced enough of it.

I took my official visit to the College my senior fall. We went to Yankee Candle and Sno-to-go and walked in downtown Colonial Williamsburg through tourist shops to fulfill the Williamsburg experience.

After 12 years here in the ’burg, I had never felt as at home as I did with the Tribe swimming team that day.

Williamsburg is quiet. Nothing “big” ever really happens here. My town was comfortable and safe, until my life began to change in spring 2019.

In March 2019, my younger sister attempted suicide.

Among the first of people to reach out to my family was former head coach and Tribe swimmer Matt Crispino. He called me one afternoon to invite me over to his family’s home for dinner and to talk. He genuinely wanted to know if I was okay.

Because of his alumnus status and lifeexperiences, I think the authenticity of my coach’s reaction was wholly expected as this is simply the person he is.

What I found in my coach is what I found in the Tribe swimming family — I found a sense of understanding. It was a team built on connections and care. Everyone that knows Tribe swimming knows this.

My argument is that the cuts made by Athletic Director Samantha Huge are unjust. The story I shared is one among hundreds of other life-changing events that the team has supported one-another through.

She cut seven teams in seven minutes. After she read her speech in the driest manner possible, she proceeded to deflect any questions.

Where are the financial predictions? Why did she lie to the swim team on multiple occasions that they would not be cut? How could she hurt so many people in so little time?

The one reason she gave for the cuts of the seven sports was that the athletic department was realigning. No one knows what realigning means. The athletic department has provided athletes with no information as to why the athletes with some of the highest GPAs and highest winning streaks were cut.

The men’s team receives no scholarships and the women’s team receives two. The swim team hosts one of the lowest operating budgets among the athletic departments and is incredibly well-endowed.

Until the financial predictions are seen, there is no way to see what the swim team was supposedly inhibiting Huge’s favorite teams from doing — favorite teams meaning the ones that do well for the departments bank account.

Huge did not leave the window open for fundraising efforts. Pledges are currently being made, but until the department is willing to accept their efforts, nothing is certain.

Until the athletes and families receive more answers, the cuts made will continue to be unjust.

Please take the time to read through the posts and websites of the teams impacted. Huge and the department have made many questionable decisions that have impacted each of these athletes personally.

I haven’t been a member of Tribe swimming for several months now (due to some personal reasons). That being said, my time away from the team has not strained the friendships I began during my time there.

Everyone walks away from Tribe swimming having learned some sort of lesson. I learned many, but the best one I learned was that there is a group of people that will support you no matter what — this is your tribe.

Last fall, my parents separated.

This was another great turning-point in my life and to say the least, many other life-changing decisions followed. When I eventually parted ways with the team, I seriously began to consider transferring to a school in Washington state, to be closer to my mom. I visited and gave the schools serious thought before realizing that the College will always be my home.

It’s a cliché of orientation to talk about the Tribe family, but it really is true. Once you find your tribe, you find your family. The swim team is a well-established tribe that Huge took away, and that is an enormous loss to this school.

The College will not continue forward in the direction Huge dreams of without the swim team. The Williamsburg community loves Tribe swimming, I can say that for a fact.

The team has long been an inspiration to young swimmers in my community and the people that go through the program go on to do good. Huge’s decision is not just a loss to the school, but also a loss to the entire community.

A family is not something Huge can take away, and Tribe swimming will continue with or without a program.

Here, I found my people and will walk away from the College at least having that. The incoming classes deserve this opportunity as well and the struggle to reinstate the program will continue until changes are made.

Until then, I hope Huge reads our stories.

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