By John Jackson, Staff Writer
Last semester a group of students at Manhattan College attempted to start a men’s rugby club team on campus. The idea was posed to John Bennett of Student Engagement and flyers were even made to garner interest. After a while, the students decided not to pursue the process any further.
“Right now the students that were leading the charge to start it have said they’ve stopped pursuing it as a Manhattan College team,” said Bennett.
Sports that Manhattan College do not currently offer are welcomed to be proposed to Student Engagement. The process of creating a club team begins by first making a one-day or weekend event.
This has happened in the past with sports such as ice hockey, golf, Equestrian, and even Quidditch (the sport played in Harry Potter). In years past there have been tournaments at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon for hockey. Last April there was also a golf tournament at Van Cortlandt hosted around the time of the Masters.
If there is enough interest with the one-day or weekend event, Student Engagement would look at making the sport into an intramural. Then if there was enough interest with the sport as an intramural, creating a club team that plays outside schools would be the next and final step.
“So it’s a step process of really making sure A. there’s enough interest,” said Bennett. “But being that we’re providing the right equipment and avenues to be successful.”
After learning the process and knowing that a rugby club team would take a long time to create, the students decided to not pursue the team any further.
Currently there aren’t any club teams at Manhattan College. There are intramural sports, but no club teams that have went through the entire process.
The intramural sports that were offered in the 2015-2016 school year were softball, 3-on-3 basketball, dodgeball, volleyball, flag football, and indoor soccer.
Some of these intramurals such as flag football and basketball are offered as Division I and Division II sports; the former being more competitive and the latter being more relaxed. There are female teams, male teams, and co-ed teams.
Students interested in playing on any of these intramural teams must go to http://www.imleagues.com and create an account. They can then sign up for a team with their account during its registration period.
Bennett encourages students to sign up as many people who have done so have enjoyed themselves immensely.
Senior Tom Polly is one of those students. He has had memorable times playing intramurals at Manhattan College including a trip to MetLife Stadium.
“My favorite thing about intramurals was obviously the trip to MetLife stadium for the flag football championship,” wrote Polly via email. “That was an absolutely unreal experience and something I’ll remember forever.”
Senior Nicholas Weyland has participated in intramurals all four years of college. He’s played just about every sport Manhattan College has offered and has done so on Division I teams, Division II teams, co-ed teams, and men’s teams.
“Flag rugby would be nice,” wrote Weyland via email in regards to potential teams down the line. “I actually coach flag rugby to inner city youth kids in NYC, and I also play rugby outside of school so that would be fun. I’d like to see ultimate frisbee as well. We used to have that as a sport but I don’t think there was much interest.”
Although the rugby team has fallen through now, that or other teams can eventually become intramurals or club teams if students are interested in going through the process laid out by Bennett.