Dec. 14, 2007 | The Clarion
Sports—
Give us the shirts!
Page 7
Intramural 3-on-3
basketball was de
cided on reading day,
Wed., Dec. 12 with a
single elimination
tournament held in
the auxiliary gym of
Boshamer Gymna
sium. The men's final
went down to the wire,
with l-iypnotized
Minds winning at the
buzzer on a layup by
Nick MacKinnon.
Photo by J. Billingsley
Photo by J. Billingsley
Winter sports would aid strategic plan
by Joseph Chilton
Managing Editor
It’s winter sports time in Tran
sylvania County again, and for
all the BC sports fans out there,
that means an opportunity to
watch basketball or....well,
basketball.
Fm not saying that there is
anything wrong with the great
sport that gave us Hoosiers,
baggy shorts, and topic of con
versation for approximately
one third of the dialogue in
Spike Lee movies, but basket
ball has a monopoly on EC’s
winter sports offerings that is
approaching Microsoft-level
proportions.
Granted, Brevard’s climate
does put hmitations on the type
of winter sports that BC could
offer It would probably be dif
ficult to field a hockey team
because of the fact that the
nearest competition is four
states away. We also would
have trouble fielding a cross
country skiing team, as the
weather this December has
been more appropriate for
beach volleyball than for trek
king through the snow.
There are, however, several
winter sports that are partici
pated in by many high school
athletes in this region; sports
that if Brevard College were to
add them would attract these
athletes and supply the school
with a significant increase in
student population. ( As well
as the tuition money that ac
companies new students.)
The sport that would be most
feasible to add would be wres
tling. While the South Atlantic
Conference does not recognize
wrestling, there are plenty of
NCAA Division II schools near
by, including some SAC mem
bers who compete in wresthng
as independents.
In NCAA Division II, schools
are allowed to allot nine schol
arships for their wrestling team.
The average college wresthng
team has about 40 members.
These numbers suggest that
by adding a wrestling program
BC would top 700 students and
approximately $800,000 in tu
ition would be added to the
school budget aimually.
While wrestling is the most
logical option, swimming and
diving are also winter sports
that could be added in order to
help boost enrollment. (Remem
ber that pool we have? We
could actually use it instead of
letting it become a graveyard
for football cleats and intramu
ral equipment.)
This year students have
heard about Brevard College’s
“strategic plan” that will cause
the school to grow to over 1,000
students over and over, as if
mentioning the plan more of
ten than Rudy Giuliani men
tions 9/11 will magically cause
the Admissions Department to
receive a 400% increase in ap-
phcations.
The fact that Brevard College
is a liberal arts school nestled
in the mountains of Western
North Carohna is a major sell
ing point for the school. Un
fortunately, that is also a major
selling point for Mars Hill Col
lege, Montreal College, and
Lees-McRae College.
If the college is to grow to the
enrollment numbers given in the
“strategic plan”, it is necessary
to add programs that these
other schools don’t have. The
fact that almost 100 football
players attend Brevard College
despite there being only 18
scholarships available is a
testament to the fact that
prospective students are
willing to pay $26,000 ayearto
attend a private institution
rather than a much more
affordable public one if they are
given the chance to play a
sport they love at the collegiate
level. The school just has to
expand the athletic department
to give more students the
opportunity to do so.
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