No baseball for MRU
Couldn’t add a sport if I wanted to, coach says
Becca Paterson
Staff Writer
Making the cut for the varsity sports team in university is a popular goal among athletic students.
Many Mount Royal University students, however, have to look outside our athletic programs to compete, including several MRU students who play baseball for the University of Calgary Dinos.
Until MRU is a full member of CIS, there will be no balls, strikes or dingers for prospective sluggers. Photo courtesy: flickr.com/lambdachialpha
There are several possible reasons why a sport may not currently be a part of Mount Royal’s varsity program.
Several sports were lost, such as the badminton program, when MRU moved from the ACAC to the CIS. The university level of sport doesn’t support badminton.
More than likely — as the well known budget crunch at MRU may suggest — it comes down to funding.
“It’s difficult to add on a sport if it’s not fully funded properly,” said Karla Karch, athletic director at MRU. In short, the money isn’t there for a baseball team.
Even our cross-town rivals Dinos who have several MRU students on the team, have trouble keeping their baseball program running.
“We don’t travel much,” said Dakota Upton, a first-year MRU student on the Dinos. “Every other team has already played 15 to 20 games, but we just don’t have the money.”
According to Karch, the university is currently not allowed to add any varsity programs under the conditions of the probationary period as new members of the CIS.
“Our actual application was accepted, and we’ve been a probationary member for two years. We have one more year as a probationary member,” explains Karch. “I cannot add a sport at this time, even if we wanted to.”
“About 14 months from now, we’ll be voted on as to whether we are a full member, they continue our probationary membership, or they deny our membership.”
Karch went on to explain that it isn’t a matter of what the CIS can to help out MRU, but what MRU can do for the CIS. In short, if the Cougars succeed and compete, that will open the door for other new athletic opportunities.
If Mount Royal does add new sport programs in the future, “we’re going to do it right,” Karch said. But there is little likelihood of that happening in the foreseeable future.
Until then, students are encouraged by Karch to look into the club teams offered through Mount Royal Recreation.
