A new initiative by Carleton’s department of recreation and athletics is looking to support Carleton’s student-athletes who are selected to national teams.
The High Performance Athletes Fund will provide financial assistance and increased access to services, equipment and facilities to athletes competing at the international level.
When an athlete is selected to be a part of a national team, they are asked to pay approximately $3,500 for travel, equipment and other expenses, according to Jennifer Brenning, director of recreation and athletics. In 2011, there were 63 high performance athletes at Carleton, which is a significant increase over the past five years, according to media relations officer Caitlin Kealey.
A high performance athlete is considered to be a varsity athlete who has competed at the Olympic Games, World Cup, Junior World Championships, National Club Championships, National Junior Championships, FISU, Pan Am Games, or World University Games, Kealey said.
Men’s basketball players Cole Hobin and Tyson Hinz played for Team Canada at the Pan-American Games last fall, women’s soccer goaltender Rachel Bedek competed at the Summer Universiade in August, and men’s hockey captain Brandon MacLean played in the Winter Universiade last January.
Each year, the university gets a number of requests not only from varsity athletes, but also from athletes in other sports such as judo or squash, for financial assistance to compete at higher levels, Brenning said.
“It’s a huge honour to represent your country and your school and we would not want them to make the decision not to do that because they can’t afford it,” Brenning said.
“They’re trying to go to school as well as train . . . if they can’t afford it because of these fees, it would be a shame,” she said.
The campaign’s goal is to raise $25,000 to support these athletes.
Whether the university can fully cover each athlete’s fees depends on how much they can raise, Brenning said.
“The long-term goal is to have an endowed fund of about a million dollars,” she said.
If they aren’t able to help every athlete, she said they’ll look at having an application process through which athletes could still get assistance for some portion of their fees.
A group of high performance athletes, calling themselves the High Flyers, have taken action to promote the initiative by “kidnapping” Carleton’s mascot, Rodney the Raven. The High Flyers have challenged the Carleton community to raise as much money as they can for the High Performance Athletes Fund to ensure Rodney’s safe return.
The athletics department also supports the campaign. They held a “Rodney Ransom” dodgeball tournament March 27 in the Ravens’ Nest. The tournament raised $1,270 and over 100 people participated, according to Welcome Centre coordinator Fran Craig.
The High Performance Athletes Fund is one of many fundraising initiatives included in Carleton’s Campus Community Campaign, launched Feb. 28. It runs until April 30.
In addition to helping athletes financially, Brenning said the fund will help the university keep a better record of its high performing athletes and where they end up.
“We need to do a better job of recognizing those students,” she said.
