By James Littlejohn
Early Monday morning, Kendal Lubereski wakes to get ready for a full day.
The day starts for her as a student at BYU, with an 8 a.m. class, before taking her at 11 to customer support job at an alarm company. After hours of dealing with angry customers, she joins her rugby teammates for practice from 4 until 7. Soon she will head back to school, back to the library, where she will stay until blaring music signals the soon-approaching midnight close.
Like most student-athletes, Lubereski is busy. Like most, she loves to compete. She loves the camaraderie and team atmosphere she experiences as a part of a team. But unlike most other student-athletes, she has to split gas-money on road trips with her teammates, pay team dues and buy her own equipment. Unlike most athletes, if a game injury warrants a visit to the emergency room -- something she says happens almost every road trip to someone on the squad -- she has to cover the cost.
Athletes who play on teams not sanctioned by BYU not only have to give their effort, intensity and time to be on their respective teams -- they have to give their money.
'You pretty much have to do it for the love of the game,' Lubereski said.
There are three main types of athletic teams: non-affiliated clubs, extramural and members of BYU''s intercollegiate program.
Club sports, like women''s rugby, that do not have the university''s backing, rely totally on players and donors to fund team expenses.
According to Extramural Sports Director Lee Gibbons, the four extramural teams at BYU: racquetball, men''s soccer, men''s lacrosse and men''s rugby, do receive an allocation from the BYU, but also require players to pay team dues and often have their own fundraisers.
One program that doesn''t fit as a club, extramural or sanctioned team is BYU Hockey, which is a 'recognized sport'. According to board chairman Danny Damron, BYU Hockey can use the university''s name, but receives no funding from the school. Player fees, gate receipts, donations and ad sales from game programs support the team.
For athletes on non-sanctioned teams - extramural, 'recognized' and club teams -- the already intense demands caused by academics and athletics are often accompanied by another element, work.
'It''s really hard to balance everything -- I have to take early classes and find a job that''s flexible,' Lubereski said.
Junior Brent Blaisdel played on BYU''s Lacrosse team his freshman and sophomore years, but decided not to play this season to focus on his studies. He eventually wants to go to medical school.
'I didn''t stop playing because I don''t love the game,' he said. 'I stopped playing because I needed to balance my time. You have to balance school with practice and if you''re working you have to balance that too.'
'The time commitment is a lot,' he said. 'You''re asked to perform in the classroom and on the field just like any other student athlete, except you have to pay your way.'
Blaisdel said he misses playing lacrosse, traveling and competing with his teammates and that he admires the extramural athletes who are able to meet the demands.
'Regardless of the fact that we aren''t sanctioned, it''s a privilege to play, and the athletes who can balance it all are amazing - I just couldn''t,' he said. 'It takes a certain kind of person to play without a scholarship just for the love of the game.'
Gibbons said it is possible for teams to transition from a club to an extramural team, however -- the extramural program has not added any teams for 13 years. Just as it is possible to become an extramural team, an extramural team can transition to become an officially sanctioned sport, Gibbons said. For example women''s soccer and softball formerly were extramural teams that have now become a part of the athletic department.
While teams can make those transitions - they take time, and many athletes will compete for years out of their own pockets without ever receiving financial help just 'for the love of the game.'