Whether an athlete or a fan, making sure your favorite sport is included in your college’s athletic program is crucial.
Cabrini offers 16 collegiate sports. However some of them such as baseball, football, and track and field are not included. With college football taking over Saturday sports television and baseball being America’s favorite pastime, many wonder why they are not included in Cabrini athletics.
What are some reasons that prevent Cabrini from supporting these popular sports?
Brad Koch Director of athletics and recreation tells why.
Koch explains that infrastructure, already spread thin, is a huge reason why Cabrini is not ready for these sports just yet. He describes the inability to build more fields on campus due to preserving Cabrini’s beautiful natural space. He also says that there are no adequate fields, locker room storage or places to practice to support such teams.
“To bring additional teams in the fold wouldn’t be a right fit. Right now, anyway,” Koch said. “I will say however, under Dr. Taylor’s leadership, as this college continues to evolve, we’ll continue to look at those opportunities.”
Although Cabrini does not have athletic teams for these sports, it does supply club and intarmural outlets for students with a passion for them. Intramural flag football is popular on campus. Baseball club was once established and Koch is hopeful to get them off the ground once again.
When asked if adding these sports would increase enrollment at Cabrini, Koch replied, “Absolutely.” Although growth is what the college is working towards, keeping the students enrolled is the ideal goal. “It’s not enough to get them here, we have to keep them here,” Koch said. “We’re all concerned about retention strategies. We need to provide the resources to keep them here.”
As far as realistic goals are concerned, baseball is the one in closest reach. Football is not included in the Colonial States Athletic Conference so Cabrini would have to find another Mid-Atlantic conference that football could be affiliated with. For example, the CSAC does not support swimming. Cabrini’s swim team is affiliated with the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.
Students at Cabrini have difficulty understanding both the physical and financial issues of adding these sports.
Amie Kneedler-Roetz, sophomore education major is one of them “I think we should have a baseball team since we have a softball team,” Kneedler-Roetz said.
The softball team leases a field from Valley Forge. “We would have to have a partnership, whether it’s a high school or other entity that allows us to use that field,” Koch said.
As far as the future is concerned, furthering athletics is something that is a realistic possibility. The college’s growth has been consistent and there is even an increase of interest by semester. Koch’s main concern with adding new sports is that Cabrini takes care of all the other teams. In order to present a new athletic program to a potential athlete, the school would have to make it efficient and beneficial to them. With that said, Cabrini wants to provide a positive, athletic and academic experience to students playing these sports.
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