Sports are competitive at Syracuse University, leaving few opportunities for students interested in learning a sport for the first time. There are competitive sports to join at SU and there are classes that lack a strict focus on skills relating to specific sports. But students who prefer to practice skills relating to specific sports in a non-competitive environment have nowhere to turn to.

Students may not be accepted into the clubs they join or they might not be allowed to compete, both of which are understandable given that some sports require a certain number of players. Additionally, for students registering for intramural sports, they will either require a team or, if applying as a free agent, require a team to accept them.

Additionally, there is one class to improve specifically athletic skills (PED 250), but not all students can fit this into their class schedule. Students can take fitness classes such as kickboxing, yoga and Zumba at the Barnes Center at The Arch, but although these classes are good for endurance and health, they lack specific skill building. Students looking to build skills attributed to specific sports, such as dribbling a soccer ball or shooting 3-pointers, have to go out of their way to find these opportunities.

There may be classes that teach specific sports outside of the university, but many students don’t have the time or money to take classes off campus. They can be expensive and far away, plus students’ schedules are tight with classes, organizations, projects, homework and social lives, so making time to travel off campus can be difficult.

This is not to say that the teams and organizations at SU are not helpful and useful to many students at the university but to acknowledge that a lot of SU students simply want to start out by learning basic skills in a non-competitive environment. If students did not get the opportunity to try a certain sport earlier in life, they are likely unable to at SU because of the lack of opportunities available to dip their foot in the water, and there are few such opportunities without a semester-long commitment or the ability to transport yourself to an off-campus class.

Even resources present to students — such as The Drumlins Tennis Co-Curricular Program, the Barnes Center and the Tennity Ice Pavilion — are difficult to attend because of the lack of available time frames, activities and instructors present within the institutions. For example, at Drumlins, a student can get tennis lessons, but only once a week on a first come, first serve basis.

When challenged or encouraged to try again or try something new, students need a plethora of opportunities to do so. Thus, SU students and administration must band together to create beginner level clubs and classes where students can learn skills pertaining to specific sports in a non-competitive environment.

Daniela Dorado is a junior Creative Writing major. Her column appears bi-weekly and she can be reached at ddorado@syr.edu.

Published on March 6, 2022 at 9:12 pm