Growing up with a single mother and a father in Ireland, Danny Noone, first-line center for American University club ice hockey and Kogod School of Business junior, has never been in a financially stable environment. This never stopped him from falling in love with ice hockey, an expensive youth sport. Throughout Noone’s youth hockey career, his mother financially supported him; however, now in college, he’s on his own.
After choosing to sit out his freshman fall semester, Noone contacted executive board members to see if they could accommodate his situation. They could. He was given a used set of jerseys, shaving $200 off of what was more than $1,000 due that year. After this, he paid what he could, sending only $300 — a third of what was due.
“I haven't paid yet; I tell people that all the time,” Noone said while reassuring incoming players who might be hesitant about dues well above $500 that they will play no matter what they can pay. “They like hearing that a leader on the team is in a similar situation.”
Club sports at American University fill the gap between NCAA varsity athletics and recreational leagues, offering competitive opportunities without the commitment required in varsity-level athletics. However, limited funding and logistical challenges create a wide disparity among teams, with some calling for more funding.
While some club sports, like equestrian and women’s volleyball, have budgets that allow them to do many different activities throughout their season, other clubs, like wrestling and women’s lacrosse, struggle to cover essential costs or participate in national tournaments.
Yet, the determination of players, families and fans allows for these sports to continue at American University.
According to Garrett Schmidt, assistant director of competitive sports and aquatics at the University, club sports funding comes from an allocated budget within Recreational Sports and Fitness, the department that oversees the operation of fitness centers, group exercise programs, intramural sports and club sports. Schmidt states that RecFit submits funding requests for club sports for each budget cycle, and AU makes funding decisions based on those requests. Though AU is in the midst of an approximately $60 million budget shortfall, Schmidt states RecFit is currently unaware of any plans from the University to cut funding for any club sport. Schmidt was unable to provide specific funding information for individual organizations when asked.
Schmidt said that the University requires all club teams to collect at least $25 in dues from each member each semester. If a club permits, payment plans are available case-by-case for members who may require one. According to Schmidt, dues are collected solely for club sports to offset operating expenses. Additionally, unspent fundraised, donations and dues-related funding can be rolled over to the following year.
“Our goal is for every club’s dues and fundraising to reach 50 percent of that year's expenses,” Schmidt said in an email. “The rest of the expenses are usually covered by the allocation provided to each club through their budget.”
The ice hockey team at American is one of the most highly funded sports teams, receiving $13,000 from the school and requiring dues from returning and new players. According to Max Baker, treasurer of the ice hockey team and sophomore in Kogod, new players pay $700, with $200 for uniforms alone. Returning players, since they already have uniforms, only pay $500.
This funding goes towards many things, such as gameday staff, league fees and ice rinks. Cabin John Ice Rink charges $375 for an hour of rink time, with an additional ice-cutting fee. Additionally, the American Coastal College Hockey League has a league fee of $3,000.
Though costly, ice hockey’s dues have reportedly never prevented anyone from playing, according to former captain and current head coach Connor Cain. The team has worked with everyone to ensure that those who make the team can play regardless of the price.
Baker has worked with players who could not afford the dues. This includes setting up payment plans for players. Usually, players will pay the required $25 first and then slowly pay back the remaining balance.
However, even after collecting dues, many teams are still met with more challenges. Limited field space burdens several club sports teams, including the American University baseball team, the Swinging Eagles, and the men’s rugby team.
While AU men’s rugby receives $14,000 in funding from American per year, according to team treasurer Oliver Young, the team still struggles to find practice and game fields. Holden Renfro, fourth-year and president of the men’s rugby club, said that the team utilizes “creative methods” to find fields. The team has used nearby spots such as Tenleytown’s Fort Reno Park for practices, and the more distant Gravelly Point Park for games, which requires a round-trip rideshare that can reach $60. According to Renfro, the University does not reserve fields for them to use for practices or games, creating a significant barrier to play.
Finding a suitable practice and game field has been a similar challenge for the recently revived Swinging Eagles.
For the 2024 season, the team has been playing its home games at Turkey Thicket Field, which they share with Catholic University. For sophomore Asaf Cohen, not having an actual home field and playing on a field so far from campus has a detrimental effect on the team.
“It is kind of weird sharing a home field, doesn't really make it feel like your own,” Cohen said. “And the fact that it's 30 minutes from campus, we don't get much support at our games.”
As per university policy, they are only allowed to spend double the amount brought in by dues and fundraising, pushing the Swinging Eagles into a corner balancing league fees, field reservation fees, umpire fees and uniform costs. With a 25-man roster and dues of $100, the team is only allowed to spend $5,000 during the season. More than half of that budget goes to field rentals and league fees, which cost the team roughly $1,700 each for the 2024 season.
For AU club baseball treasurer Grayson Hepp, the inability to purchase new equipment, some of which is as basic as a new box of baseballs, stems from their limited access to money already allocated for the team. Now, becoming a hassle, players are sharing hats during games and reusing uniforms from years prior. However, solving this issue is complicated, as fundraising needs to bring in more money, and raising dues is something that Hepp and club President senior Matt Laubach are hesitant to do.
As some clubs struggle with balancing a limited budget, others such as the American club equestrian team have more secure financial situations.
According to team President Phebe Koundinya, the team receives $15,000 in funding from the University, the highest amount among every responding club team. They get so much funding because they pay a high amount in dues per semester as well. Each player on the team pays $450 in dues per semester. This totals up to $18,000 a year for the team. Additionally, if a player wants to participate in show days, they pay an additional flat rate of $40 to be a competitor in the league and $65 per event they want to participate in. These extra payments go directly to the league, not AU. Each showing player does around five events a year (roughly 85 percent of the team participates in events according to club president Koundinya), which would make their out-of-pocket payment $365. This would make the average cost to be on the team $1,265 a year, the most expensive club sport to be on.
Koundinya said that the group rarely ever has issues with players being unable to pay dues. Since being on the team requires previous experience, most are used to the high price to be an equestrian.
Koundinya also said that their club is fairly happy with their finances and can satisfy most if not all the team needs with their current budget.
However, this isn’t the case for all club sports, as Abbey Boyce, co-treasurer of the lacrosse team, wishes her team received more funding. Currently, the club gets $5,000 in funding from AU and $2,000 from dues ($80 per player). Boyce said that their current budget is spent on travel, equipment and merchandise, but they still don’t have enough to go to nationals. However, they “kind of make do with what [they] have.”
Boyce said that juggling all these finances and being unable to meet some of the team's needs as well as setting up fundraisers that ultimately don’t bring out a lot of money, is taxing work.
“Club sports treasury is a huge job. It's a lot of work, and if I had known that, I wouldn’t have run for this position…We put in a lot of hard work to raise the money that we don’t have,” Boyce said.
Boyce mentioned that other clubs, like women's volleyball, can attend nationals because they get more funding and have a larger overall budget. Women's volleyball gets $10,000 from AU and around $5,175 in dues (about $225 per player). Women’s volleyball is able to receive this much funding because they have higher dues; when clubs have higher dues they get more funding from the University.
The issue of funding may be in the minds of many of AU’s club sports athletes, but the pressure that it places on teams is not enough to take away the joy felt playing a game you love. For club baseball player Asaf Cohen, simply being on the field with his friends is more than enough.
“We definitely have some things we need to work on as a team,” said Cohen. “But I mean I'm playing a sport I love and having fun, so there is no need to complain.”
This article was edited by Penelope Jennings, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Emma Brown.
