U of G continues to play hardball for women’s fastpitch team

Club vs. varsity: what does it mean?

It’s Tuesday night at the ball diamond on campus. On the main diamond, the Guelph women’s fastpitch team warms up for their double-header against the Ryerson Rams. Across the street, music echoes from the football stadium’s speakers as the varsity team practices.

Women’s fastpitch softball has been a club sport since 2001, with the formation of the Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fast-pitch Association (OIWFA). Largely run and maintained at the grassroots level, the league grew from the “original four” schools of York, McMaster, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa into something much larger.

The league doubled in less than a year with the addition of teams from the University of Guelph, Brock, Western, and Laurier. Since then, the league has grown even more, fielding teams from Waterloo, Queen’s, Windsor, and Carleton.

The league also received a grant from the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport in 2005 and has successfully completed seasons for 15 years since its inception. Despite the success, fast-pitch still hasn’t earned OUA recognition.

“… the women’s fastpitch team is not privy to several perks available to fully recognized varsity teams. Perks include access to athletic therapy…”

Technically a sports club, the women’s fastpitch team is not privy to several perks available to fully recognized varsity teams. Perks include access to athletic therapy from the Health and Performance Centre and access to the Student-Athlete Mentorship (SAM) program, which helps athletes study when they aren’t training.

Beyond that, transportation to away games is paid out of pocket by team members. Hotels for tournaments are covered by team fees, which means players pay for them indirectly as well. Although U of G provides a maintained diamond to play on, support is limited.

Guelph’s fastpitch team isn’t asking for celebrity treatment. What they’re asking for is a chance to compete and perform at the varsity level with some degree of endorsement from U of G.

“We do everything that varsity teams do. We’ll go out and study together. You get really good relationships out of it,” said Amanda Klumpp, a second-year human kinetics student.

“…all the university teams in the fastpitch league are considered clubs, and therefore see virtually no funding or support…”

A typical week on the team involves 12 to 17 hours of practice and play. Game nights are all double-headers, so players will typically be on the diamond for five hours. This doesn’t include travel time to and from games, which the players organize themselves.

Even larger, it’s not just the question of Guelph’s fastpitch team. The root issue is that all the university teams in the fastpitch league are considered clubs, and therefore see virtually no funding or support by other means.

“We have gone through the application process to be an OUA sport four times now and every time that process has changed and we have had different feedback every year on why our vote was turned down,” explained Matt Allen, who has been the OIFWA league president since 2011. “We are at a point of simply asking for transparency and honesty in the process.”

Where the men’s varsity baseball team has 30 players and 11 paid coaching staff, the women’s fastpitch team has 14 players, some of whom are out because of injury. Their head coach, assistant coach, and manager are volunteers. A volunteer therapist comes to home games and practices, but there isn’t one for away games. The men’s varsity team has access to official recruiting and Gryphon-endorsed media, whereas an individual on the women’s fastpitch team created Twitter and Facebook pages to attempt to reach out to new students.

“It is about being treated fairly at their respective universities, being called ‘athletes’…”

“It’s for the love of the sport,” said head coach Craig Christie. “If they didn’t love it, they wouldn’t come out.”

“I have had countless conversations with athletes on many different teams, and for many of them, it is not the funding they are concerned about,” said Allen. “It is about being treated fairly at their respective universities, being called ‘athletes.’ […] Our athletes, en masse, just want to be treated with respect by their universities and have some equal opportunities across the board.”

For back-catcher Erin Finnerty, this issue became all too real during tryouts when she was concussed by a foul ball. The ball deflected and hit her lower jaw, just under her facemask.

“I couldn’t close my jaw for a week,” she said in an interview with The Ontarion.

“If they didn’t love it, they wouldn’t come out.”

Finnerty continued business as usual, until a week later when the zoology major dove for a ball and realized the true extent of her injury. Since she has no free access to athletic therapy services, she is currently working through her other options. Finnerty has found communicating with Student Accessibility Services challenging, since concussion symptoms tend to fluctuate and rest is essential.

“I’m definitely dropping one course already,” said Finnerty about her fall semester.

With more support and access to athletic therapy and the SAM program, Finnerty’s semester might not be left hanging in the balance.

“We have existed for 15 years now, offering the competitive university experience for softball players to over 200 athletes every year,” said Allen. “We have a structured governance, support systems from our Provincial and National Sport Organizations, and are ready to take the next step.”

Photo by Tasha Falconer.