Carleton’s varsity field hockey team has been cut from the athletics program, director of athletics Jennifer Brenning confirmed last week.
Brenning and Bob Rumscheidt, Carleton’s manager of inter-university programs, met with the team on the morning of Feb. 15 to tell them about the decision and explain why the team was cut, fourth-year field hockey player Uroos Mian wrote in an email.
“[Rumscheidt] was very blunt about there no longer being a program here next year,” Mian wrote. “We actually appreciated that he was straight up about this and did not beat around the bush.”
The news was not a surprise, she wrote.
“It’s upsetting. For the veterans on the team, I can definitely say it’s sad to see it go as we have put a lot of time, dedication, and commitment to the team over the last few years and this is not where we wanted to see it end up,” Mian wrote.
The decision to cut the team was not easy and was not taken lightly, Brenning said.
“We used a number of factors to make this decision,” she said. “Is there a competitive, viable league? Are they able to recruit student athletes? Are there enough coaches in the region? Can they compete at the provincial level? Is there a viable league locally for them to be a competitive club?”
The process started two years ago and the decision was made after reflecting on this season, Brenning said, adding it was not the players’ fault.
“They actually lost their varsity status a year ago,” she said. “It’s been a transition.”
Three categories of competitive sports were established during an athletics review two years ago, Brenning said.
There are market-driven sports that promote the university, high-performance sports that develop student athletes who can qualify for high-level play at the national level, and competitive club sports that give students the opportunity to participate in a competitive sport, usually at a local level.
“What was difficult with field hockey is that it does not fit the high-performance [category] at Carleton University because it doesn’t draw student athletes that are in a high-performance stream. They’re not being developed locally,” Brenning said.
Too many players were just learning to play field hockey in university, which did not fit with a high-performance sport, she added. The competitive club option was not an option, either, because there is not enough competition locally.
The lack of competition was another reason for the cut, according to Brenning. Eight teams competed in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference this season, including Carleton, and a further four teams made up a 12-team Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) league.
Twelve teams out of 51 CIS universities was not enough to run a viable, competitive league, she said, but Mian said she thinks the league is competitive.
“The OUA/CIS field hockey teams contribute to the feeder system of the Canadian national field hockey team, which means that we play against national level athletes, who in turn compete internationally against the best players in the world, in our OUA league, showing that it is really competitive,” she wrote.
The team also had a poor record, she said. According to CIS statistics, the team hasn’t won a game during the past two seasons.
The team had a hard time fundraising and faced problems of inconsistent coaching, Brenning said. Both coaches quit before Christmas and the coach two years ago coached from New Brunswick.
Overall, the sport wasn’t providing a good enough experience for student athletes, in part because it wasn’t growing enough as a sport, she said, citing funding cuts to Field Hockey Canada and a lack of local competition and coaches.
“It’s not just a Carleton issue. It’s a sport issue and it’s a systemic issue for this particular sport,” Brenning said.
This doesn’t have to be the end of the team, she added.
“If they want to continue to play, we can help organize them on campus to do that,” Brenning said. “We’re going to leave it to them [to decide] what they would like to do for next year, if anything at all.”
One option for field hockey players is to set up an intramural league like the one badminton players have at Carleton, she said.
Mian said she isn’t sure what the team will do next year.
“I do know that a number of us players from this year contribute much to the field hockey community in Ottawa and I am sure that will continue through coaching and umpiring at high school field hockey and local field hockey events,” she wrote.
Brenning said the decision was not formally announced beyond the team meeting because she didn’t want the athletes to feel like they were not valued as varsity athletes.
“I want them to finish this year and feel a part of that group,” she said. “We want to finish this year and have them finish it in a positive way.”
Mian wrote she does not feel like the field hockey team was valued as a varsity team.
“Therapy was not made available to us outside our season,” she wrote. “We did not receive the per diem we used to while traveling for games, nor did we receive varsity clothing as we used to although each player paid a varsity fee, and we funded our own way this year — our coaches played a huge role in that. So, really, how does she want us to feel included in the varsity fold?”
The decision is particularly upsetting for younger players on the team who didn’t get to experience being a student athlete for very long, Mian said.
“To give the younger players a taste of this experience and then just strip it away is not really fair.”