By Mike Specht
Staff Writer
The club sports scene on campus is changing in many ways. With the success of programs like men’s rugby qualifying for the DI-AA USA Rugby National Championship and the attention ice hockey has been receiving, students have teams on the club level making progress.
Club sports offer strictly-academic students a chance to stay active and be part of a team. Rob DeFazio, director of the Center for Activities Recreation and Leadership, oversees all the club sports on campus.
“Staying active, representing St. Bonaventure University, as well as building team camaraderie are all part of the club sport experience,” DeFazio said.
When DeFazio took over the club sports program 13 years ago, it offered rugby, ice hockey, field hockey, men’s volleyball and ski-racing. Since then, soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s lacrosse and running club have become available for students.
There are more than two hundred students involved in club sports with other clubs possibly in the works. Several people want to add women’s lacrosse, and it may become another club sport in the future.
“There needs to be interest with students, schools in the area to compete against, available facilities and equipment available to compete with,” DeFazio said.
The program welcomed a running club to its list of teams this semester. Members met to run casually, with some of the runners competing at races with other schools.
Other sports, like ice hockey, grew in popularity over the years, leading prospective students to SBU. Junior co-captain Mike Iulianello was drawn to St. Bonaventure in part due to the hockey program.
“I was drawn to Bonaventure for the academics, and also the opportunity to play hockey at a competitive level,” Iulianello said.
Iulianello saw more attention from the student body toward hockey over recent years.
“A big reason has been the bus to the rink from campus that started two years ago, allowing many students to attend the games,” Iulianello said. “The support we get at Bonaventure, compared to other schools in our league is more in part because we are the only hockey team on campus. Other schools have a varsity team. The first game of the season, we had more than four-hundred fans come out and support us.” Men’s rugby has also seen an increase in player and fan interest from the students this year, as they reached the national tournament for the first time in school history. Senior Jon Garbin believes that there’s a general interest in the sport among students.
“Especially since we don’t have a football team, people want to check out rugby and see what it’s about,” Garbin said. “Rugby has become more popular over the years, especially with it being in the 2016 Olympics. It’s definitely growing nationwide.”
DeFazio said the university’s club teams have consistently been improving and are looking to develop into contending teams every year.
“With sports like ice hockey and rugby, we’ve taken the competition a step further; our goal is to have these teams compete at the national level,” DeFazio said.
