By JOEL WHITE
joel@du2.byu.edu
Western Athletic Conference universities besides BYU are dealing with the restrictions of Title IX.
Many other WAC schools, like BYU, have special departments that deal exclusively with the problem of organizing enough sports clubs. Many athletes on campus participate in sports that may not be sanctioned by their universities because of Title IX or other reasons.
Tim Moore, sports club director at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, said that because of Title IX, SMU decided to sanction a women's volleyball team a few years ago. But owing to the popularity of the sport among students, the women's volleyball club team was kept on campus.
For Moore, the problem for one of the most popular club sports on campus, women's volleyball, is competition with the varsity women's team for the best players on campus.
'(Title IX) has definitely affected us,' he said. 'Our women's volleyball (club) team is losing a lot of its best players because we now have a varsity volleyball team.'
At Rice University, however, sports clubs operate outside the bounds of the athletic department, according to Lorraine McKaye, the university's sports club director. Many sports offered by the university as NCAA-sanctioned sports, such as men's and women's volleyball, are also offered by the Department of Human Performance and Health Sciences as sports clubs.
'Sports clubs here are really only a step above intramural sports,' McKaye said. 'We really don't have anything to do with the athletic department or Title IX. Our programs are student-interest driven, and if there is enough interest in a particular sport, we'll start up a club team.'
However, because sports teams at Rice are not affiliated with the athletics department, members of sports club teams are not eligible to play on the varsity teams, McKaye said.
At the University of Utah, Jesse Price, assistant coordinator of sports clubs, said club sports organizers are always interested in getting sanctioned and becoming official university sports, but Title IX has kept them from achieving that status.
'The main effect of Title IX (at the U) is that it has prevented men's sports, like soccer, lacrosse and rugby, from becoming NCAA sports,' he said.
One of the most common problems among club team organizations is money. Lack of money keeps more club sports from being formed, and also prevents many popular club sports from 'moving up' and becoming NCAA-sanctioned sports.
At SMU, Moore said the university dropped its baseball program not entirely because of Title IX, but because the school didn't have enough money to fund a Division I-A baseball team or to maintain the facilities necessary for the team.
Moore also said that regardless of Title IX, if there isn't enough money in a school's athletic funds, sports clubs will never be sanctioned. For SMU, that is bad news for three women's sports clubs: lacrosse, softball and a crew (rowing) team. All are teams that are only waiting for a men's team to be sanctioned so that they can be sanctioned also.
'The problem (with the baseball team) was mostly because of a lack of finances and facilities,' he said, adding that until another men's sport is sanctioned, the women's sports waiting in the wings will have to continue to wait.
Without money, however, the sports club teams will wait a long time.
Rice University faces a different problem in sanctioning club sports: sustained interest.
'A few years ago, there was a big movement on campus to get a women's softball team going,' McKaye said. 'But it fizzled out after a year or two. There's always some strong interest for a while, but people leave campus, and then interest dies out.'
At SMU, the interest in getting more clubs sanctioned exists, but the money doesn't.
Moore said two women's clubs, lacrosse and rugby, have the best chance of being sanctioned, but Title IX has prevented any club -- either for men or women -- from getting sanctioned.
The U of U has 13 club sports, but the women's rugby and lacrosse teams have the best chance to become NCAA-sanctioned as soon as another men's sport gets sanctioned, Price said.
Until SMU and the U of U can provide more NCAA-sanctioned teams, both universities provide plenty of opportunities for women to participate in club sports.
'Women can join any club team (at the U),' Price said, 'but some league restrictions may keep them from competing.
Moore said that in addition to the three women's club sports, there are five co-ed clubs at SMU. U of U has two clubs for women and five co-ed clubs.
McKaye said that none of the club teams at Rice are really interested in getting sanctioned by the NCAA, and that the sports club program is as popular as it has ever been among the students.