BY GRANT JENKINS
Sheridan College may be considered an art school, but there are still plenty of ways for students to get active even if they don’t play a varsity sport.
Most students come to Sheridan to pursue a career in its many different programs often forgetting that the college offers sports, and has an athletics facility.
There aren’t as many varsity teams as there used to be in the past, but many teams do still exist, including soccer, volleyball, basketball, rugby and cross country for both men and women.
Trafalgar Athletics employee and Animation student Natalie Nehlawi participated on the women’s rugby team explains the loss of some teams.
“The school used to have 19 varsity teams, back in the day, but they had so many varsity teams that some of them ended up losing a lot of money and some went bankrupt and had to be cut back.”
She adds that some sports, such as rugby, are “working their way back up so that would never be potentially bankrupt again”.
Hockey was discontinued in 2000/2001 by the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association.
“The OCAA made cuts in the year 2000/2001 to varsity hockey due to the high cost factor, which included facility rentals, official fees, among other costs”, said varsity sport coordinator Wayne Fish.
The goal for Fish is not so much about the number of varsity teams on campus, but that the facilities have become the focus of students.
“We’ve actually begun gathering data about our facility usages at all of our athletics buildings this year” , said Fish. “An awful lot of people are using the fitness centres at Davis and Trafalgar.”
Even though some varsity sports are not as big as they once were, Sheridan still offers intramural, and extramural sports.
A big leap for athletics is the new Sheridan Bruins mobile app.
With sports not being a huge priority for Sheridan students, it makes it difficult for teams to get attendance at games.
“The teams practise a lot, and among teams there is a lot of spirit. However the school spirit isn’t as high.” said Nehlawi.
Even though the number of varsity teams has decreased there are still plenty of opportunities for students to stay active at Trafalgar and Davis.
Sheridan Homecoming, on Saturday October first will give students a chance to enjoy some of the sports the school still offers while celebrating the athletes of Sheridan’s past.
