USF club sports affected by budget cuts
Original reporting by Madison Gotham
Recent budget cuts by the student government association are affecting many club sports throughout USF.
The amount of funding has dropped by a total of fifty percent for this year because of a multimillion dollar deficit at USF. The budget for students clubs wad reduced by over $300,000. Athletic clubs are supported through the activity and service fee which is paid through student tuition. All campus student organizations will be affected. Club sports rely on this funding to stay running and have the money to travel to tournaments . USF Club hockey player Jacob Dunlop says the hockey team struggles with the cuts.
“For our away games it’s about a 2 and a half hour drive or 3 hours. We have to drive to Jacksonville, Miami, Georgia just to play away games,” Dunlop said.
USF men’s club rugby team has also experienced the effects of this change. The team has a three hundred dollar member fee to try and alleviate the cost. Club rugby player Gerardo Vargas says this has been hard for travel expenses as well.
“On the way up there with vans and everything we ended up spending around 6,000 which see as we only have 14,000 for the whole semester is kinda why we would need more funding,” Vargas said.
The budget decision was approved in the USF SG Senate Budget Bill. Many clubs are currently fundraising and seeking sponsorships to help.
New USF women’s basketball coach makes her debut
Original reporting by Noah Vinsky
Michelle Woods-Baxter made her debut this week as USF women’s basketball’s interim head coach.
Women’s basketball opened up its season with an 81 to 56 win over FIU at the Yuengling center on Monday. The game marked the first career win for Woods-Baxter who was promoted to interim head coach after Jose Fernandez departed for the WNBA. She has been coaching at USF since 2008, but this was her first time leading the team without Fernandez. She described it as an emotional experience.
“I feel like I was ready because he gave me a lot of responsibilities when I coached with him that prepared for this moment, but you always have jitters on your first day because its been a while.”
Despite the win, it was a shaky shooting performance. The bulls shot 38 percent from the floor and 14 percent from three. Forward L’or Mputu led the bulls with 20 points.
“It was really exciting.. we’ve been practicing the whole summer.. So just playing against another team was exciting,” said Mputu.
USF tips off at 7pm tonight against the LIU Sharks at the Yuengling center.
CREDITS:
Producer: Noah Vinsky
Anchor: Eric Charpentier
Reporters: Madison Gotham, Noah Vinsky
Floor Director: Cameron Churilla
Web Editor: Jada Knobloch
CG: Jayden Fernandez
Tech Director: Lia Marsee
Editor: Luana Schneider
Socials: Giovanna Chitto
Camera: Madison Gotham
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Anderson
Graduate Assistant: Grace Ficara