Newly reborn and reformed, the Varsity Club is surging to involve student-athletes in community service and with each other.
Although the club has been in existence for years, it has been reactivated by student-athletes interested in doing away with “hatred among teams” and pushing for the idea of “getting together to cheer for everyone,” according to Katie Kempton, junior basketball player and member of the club.
Elected to attend a leadership conference in Orlando, Fl., co-founders Megan Johnston, senior softball standout, and Brandon Lawler, junior lacrosse player, were inspired to bring the club back to life after years of stagnant existence.
“We met athletes from other schools and talked about their clubs,” Johnston said. “After that, we decided that it would be a good club to do positive things for the community and the Cabrini teams.”
Since its most recent debut, the Varsity Club has already organized the Color Games, which required all student-athletes of the Fall season to participate in games in order to become better acquainted with members of other teams.
“For the Color Games, all of the athletes were mixed up and they played fun games for a day,” Johnston said. “It was a good way to kick off the year and get the athletes to meet each other so hopefully they would go cheer for each other. We had a great turn out too because the athletes were required to be there.”
Since the Color Games, which were held in September, the club has held “a few meetings and a few community service events,” according to Johnston.
Next on the list for the Varsity Club is attaining a budget through Student Affairs. “We are applying for a budget now, probably about $500,” Johnston said. “Hopefully we can get funding so we can do some fun things in the future like senior presents or something along those lines. We tried doing ‘fan of the game,’ but we didn’t get a good response.”
For the Spring, the club plans on gathering to clean up campus to show further interest in the community.
“Once there is nicer weather, we are going to organize a day for the Spring athletes to clean up Cabrini and give something back,” Johnston said.
Until then, the Varsity Club continues to be a prospering work in progress. Already, the Color Games are expected to become a long lasting tradition for student-athletes and, “as we get more money and gain more interest, we’ll be doing more exciting, beneficial things for the community,” Kempton said.
Designed for the better interest of Cabrini student-athletes, the Varsity Club plans to change the view of the teams to a more positive image and bring together teams to pick each other up as they approach the finish line.
