Sports

Getting to know Metro's athletics

Jennifer Hankins
jhankin43@mscd.edu

Walking into Metro as a freshman, I had fresh thoughts of our varsity teams in high school-all 17 of them. I have to admit there was a feeling of disappointment when I heard the words, "No football at Metro." But for those of you who know Metro sports, it's needless to say, what used to be disappointment has come a long way because so have Metro sports.

In 1964, shortly after Metro's creation, it was decided that the college would not have athletics for the simple fact of lack of interest and available facilities. Now, 41 years later, we are continually welcoming new sports at Metro, adding to our already accomplished 11.

Don't worry if you feel as though you don't know the first thing about our athletics; you aren't alone. I, too, am learning about the available teams and I am here to share with you what I've recently come across.

It's easy to see which of Metro's teams have it going on. Examining previous years easily proves this. Take, for example, the 2004-2005 season. During that year, the men's basketball team was crowned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions for the third consecutive year, while women's basketball took its first conference title in eight years. Oh, and don't forget the NCAA Championship that women's soccer won. Metro dominated the RMAC!

So, the varsity teams have it going on-and that makes the 170 Metro student athletes happy. However, if I am not mistaken, we have more than 21,000 students. So what about the rest of us? Start with the club teams.

Look for women's softball to become a varsity sport in 2007. If you are interested, let yourself be known! The women's soccer club, made up of all three schools on the Auraria Campus, is looking for students at all levels of experience. The hockey club-team will soon be up and skating. They play until February against regional club teams. If it's the hard, rough game of rugby you are interested in playing, contact coach McCorkle for any information regarding the 2005 fall season. Training camp took place Sept. 2-5 and the season began Sept. 10.

The unfortunate fact about Metro's club teams is that its hard to obtain information through Metro's Website. You have to do a little digging to find them. For instance, to find rugby or any of the others listed, you can try the following: go to yahoo.com, type "sports.groups" in the search-box, click the first available link in the list, and then type in your desired club sport, for example "metrorugbyclub." Right there you should have some basic information and a way to get yourself started! If that approach doesn't yield anything, you're at least on the right track by checking the Internet, so digging something up is just a few clicks away.

Here are a few tips: campus communications and Metro's athletic department can help in getting you involved. Attending games is free and, hey, keep checking those bulletin boards around campus-the school posts information there and...psst...a few fun tournaments are still to come.