Starting a Sport at a College

Athletic Recruits
1

How hard is it to start a new sport at a college? I’m enrolled to UCSC, all their sports are ones that I’m not good at. I want to start a rowing team (pref football but that seems impossible with the cost). Would it be hard to start a rowing team at Santa Cruz? What would be the process?

Thanks!

2

I Googled out of curiousity, and there appears to be both a UCSC Rowing Club and a UCSC Rowing Team (with an active Facebook page). Have you already made contact with them? It seems like they would be the place to start.

There are also lots of outrigger groups in SC, but I suppose you mean crew.

3

@Ynotgo
I’m kind of confused on a couple things:
How do I create a rowing team that vs other schools and is involved with the Pac-12 and things of that nature
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Their rowing team seems more like a club and their club seems more like a hobby. I think they are a good start but I don’t think they want something competitive. (I’ll try reaching out)
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Just a side note, not sure if you could help me with this but I’m going for the Rhodes Scholarship.

  • I basically need to do a sport in order to be even considered. Thats why I’m trying to start a sport that I could actually find success in. So I guess my question is, do competitive clubs count? Say I joined a rugby team that was considered a competitive sport, would that be the same (to the rhodes scholar) as a NCAA sport?
4

Developing a sports team in a major university in order to qualify for a Rhodes Scholarship seems like putting effort into the wrong activities. I wouldn’t say that if you were driven by passion for the sport and the desire to bring the sport to students at the school. but your goal is to quality for Rhodes? Pass! {seems like you are extending the gaming admissions to college to the next level)

5

@lostaccount not sure what you mean by “effort into the wrong activities”. One of the criteria is being good at sports. The only sports that I excel at are the ones that involve strength and endurance; like football or rugby or boxing etc.
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What do you suggest I do if not to make a team?

6

Do you row already? Or did you pull this idea for rowing out of thin air?

7

@GMTplus7 Somewhat thin air. I kayak fairly often. Im familiar with water sports. I’m also extremely strong for my weight making rowing very optimal. Rowing just seemed like the perfect match: strength, endurance, weight, familiarity, etc…

8

There’s no requirement to being involved in varsity athletics. In fact reading the profiles of awardees shows many where no sports participation is mentioned and at least one where club rowing is mentioned. So I see no reason why participation in the club rowing team would be insufficient.

That said, if you were still interested in pursuing this a good first step would be speaking directly with the AD.

9

Then why on earth do you want to start crew instead of kayaking? Kayaking isn’t crew. Do you have any idea how expensive & high maintenance crew is? (I rowed in college)

There’s a chicken & egg problem, too. Why have competitive crew if there are no other area schools have teams to compete with?

10

There are only 32 US Rhodes Scholars per year so the odds are very long . . . too long to plan a college experience around IMO. And as noted above, many Rhodes Scholars are not college varsity athletes, though some certainly are.

For UCSC specifically, there has not been a US Rhodes Scholar for at least 15 years (not sure if there have been any further in the past, but not since 2001 for sure). I don’t mean to be discouraging, this is just illustrating that IMO it’s not something to plan one’s college experience around.

11

@bluewater2015 I completely understand what you;re saying. The only reason I am creating a plan in hopes of the rhode scholarship is because I lack motivation. In high school I was the smartest student by far but only held a 3.1 gpa. Out of my entire 4 years I completed 20 homework assignments at max. My point is that I need a reason to do something. The rhode scholarship is my reason. Hope that clears that up.

Because of what you mentioned, about UCSC not having a scholar, I need something to stand out hence the need for a sport.
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@GMTplus7 There are plenty of schools in the area that I can compete with. UCLA, UCSD, etc… Also funding is already accessible through the club funding.

12

The NCAA conference you’re looking for is the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association, not the Pac-12. That said this is a colossal waste of energy and you’d do better to focus your resources on finding some academic motivation. NCAA teams pretty much have to be started by university administration due to the bureaucracies of athletic funding and NCAA admission. For a Rhodes Scholar, academic prowess is way more important than being able to start an NCAA team.

That said, if you want to start an NCAA team but don’t actually want to be a Rhodes Scholar, follow your dreams. Just be honest with yourself about your goals

13

Starting a new varsity sport would probably take more years than you will be spending in school. You would have to spend a huge amount of time on fund raising. Or will you be suggesting to the Regents that a current sport should be eliminated?

14

This is honestly kind of a crazy thread but I’ll pile on: Due to Title IX, adding a new men’s sport (e.g., crew) means either cutting an existing men’s sport to make room for crew or adding to the participation in the women’s sports on campus, up to and including adding a new women’s varsity sport. So you are in effect looking at adding two teams, not one.

15

Men’s rowing is not an NCAA sport although it is still usually run by the athletic department. Women’s rowing teams do compete under the NCAA. Are you a man or a woman?

You can’t just start a varsity team at an NCAA school. The school is in an athletic conference (or several) and has to petition the NCAA and conference to start competing in a new sport. It usually takes a few years from approval to competition. It also takes funding. The team has to have a coach, money for competitions, money for equipment, money for uniforms,money for travel. Money, and lots of it.

But you have a bigger problem - UCSC is voting on whether to continue any sports at the D3 level, and if the students don’t approve a significant student fee increase, all sports will drop to club level.

16

@twoinanddone I think you have a misconception. You can’t have a men’s rowing team with funding for NCAA. It would be independently funded with money from club financing. Kind of like UCLA. Their men’s rowing team is sponsored by some organization, I can’t remember. You just have to get a sponsor.

17

I’ll ask it again. If you’re into kayaking, then why not just do kayaking? It’s totally contrived to pull crew (a sport w which u have zero background in) out of your wazoo.

18

This is a bit of a side issue as I think the OP is talking about starting a club team, but just want to mention that varsity and NCAA are two different things.

Men’s rowing, rugby, squash, sailing and maybe other sports are not NCAA sports, but are varsity sports at some universities, meaning the school pays the coaches, provides facilities, buys uniforms, pays travel expenses, etc.

Conversely there are some NCAA sports (such as bowling and rifle) that most schools do not sponsor as varsity sports. though some do.

19

@GMTplus7 because kayaking is not something competitive. Or something I don’t want to make competitive anyway. Rowing sounds fun, and at 6 foot 165 pounds and 11% body fat, I feel like I’m in perfect shape for rowing. Average height for rowing, light weight and strong.
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Rowing just sounds fun

20

The NCAA doesn’t fund any sports at any schools. The NCAA is a governing body.

Men’s rowing is not under the NCAA, but many schools which sponsor men’s rowing teams and run the programs out of the athletic department. They don’t have to, but many do. Some have other sponsors. A few schools give athletic scholarships to men on the rowing team. The rowing teams at my daughter’s school are funded by the school, there are scholarships given to both male and female athletes. The women are under the NCAA rules, and the men’s team follows them too even though they aren’t required to. The AD was the first crew coach at the school, so it is not considered a secondary sport or a private club.

You asked if you could do it. We’ve all said no, but you think otherwise so go for it.