King’s mourns loss of women’s volleyball

Women's volleyball team cut as budget is trimmed

Emily Whelan played left outside hitter last year for the University of King's College women's volleyball team, which has fallen victim to budget cuts. Photo: Krista Armstrong

Emily Whelan still feels a pang of sadness when she remembers playing on the University of King's College women's volleyball team.

"It's like being homesick... I'm homesick for playing volleyball".

This is the first year since 1941 that King's does not have a women's volleyball team. The athletics department cut the team after it was announced last spring that the university was facing a $1.1-million deficit.

Cuts were made to all programs with a priority to preserve academic programming, says President William Barker. Because clubs and societies are funded by the student union, they were exempt. In the end, women's volleyball was the only extracurricular to go.

Suspending women's volleyball has saved the university $15,000. Of this, $4,000 is a coaching stipend and Barker says the rest was mostly for travel to away-games. By taking a bit of money from many sources, he says the university has rebalanced the budget. Barker would like to see the team restored some day.

Whelan, 19, is in her second year in biology at King's. Last fall, she transferred from Dalhousie University specifically to play on the team. She doesn't think she would have had the opportunities for court time at Dalhousie that she's had with the smaller team.

Neil Hooper, director of athletics, says the program at King's is more inclusive. Because of the size, almost everyone who tries out for a team can to play. "It kind of flies in face of elite sport but I like it."

The women's volleyball program struggled with a lack of stability and competitiveness. In his 18 years at King's, Hooper says the women's team has never won a championship. Cutting the team, he says, wasn't an easy decision but "you can't cut a strong program at the expense of a weaker program."

Hooper concedes that with strong leadership and representation, the outcome might have been different.

Alyssa Feir had three coaches in her four years on the team. "Without the coach, you don't have the players. Without the players, you don't have the team."

Whelan says it isn't the competition that she misses, but the discipline and camaraderie that comes from being part of a team.

Feir compares it to a family.

"It's a special kind of bond." She says she would have been a different person if not for team sports. She's sad that students at King's will no longer have this experience.

The King's community has gotten behind its student athletes. Hooper says there are more people coming out to games and that the existing teams are "back with a vengeance."

Reinstating the women's volleyball team is not on the agenda for next year. Because funding is largely determined by external forces including the economy and enrolment, Hooper can't say when the varsity team might be restored. He doesn't rule out a group playing as a club team in King's name in a Halifax women's league.

If the team resurfaces, there may be a solution to its biggest problem.

"I'd coach for free." Feir says. "If it meant that they could have a team, I would absolutely, 100 per cent be game for it."

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