Introducing the new club in town

Students of Keene State College are in the beginning stages of officially creating another club sport.

On April 14, students stood around Appian Way and gathered signatures to start up a soccer club for KSC.

So far, the group has seen large interest from the student body.
“When people were signing the petition, it seemed like people were excited. They kept asking questions like ‘When is this starting up?’ It was good to see,” junior men’s club president Alex Devittori said.

The idea to start up the team came from juniors Cailee Maestro and Jana Berthiaume.
“A bunch of us used to play soccer for the school, but becoming upperclassmen our schedules have shifted and became more difficult to play a varsity sport,” Berthiaume said.
Maestro and Berthiaume live with seven other girls, all of whom started out on the soccer team when they arrived at KSC. Now, only one still plays for the team.

Maestro and Berthiaume went to DeVittori and asked for his help to set up a men’s soccer club as well.

“Our original idea was to have a co-ed soccer team, but we figured that the girls wouldn’t get much playing time, so we asked [DeVittori],” Maestro said.

“[Maestro] came and asked me to help set up the men’s team,” DeVittori said. “We didn’t know that when you set up a club sport, you have to have a team for both men’s and women’s, so we accomplished a step without even knowing it.”
There are some differences between club and varsity sports.

First, to actually start the club, they need approval from Student Government.
The petition was just the first step of the process for the soccer club. While the club did get enough signatures, there is still a lot DeVittori and Maestro still have to do.

“The next step is getting Student Government to sign off on it and give us the ok to start the club,” DeVittori said. “We have to go in front of a committee, and everyone signs off on it. Then we can move on to the next step.”

Student Government and club sports have to work together because the Athletic department does not fund club sports.

However, the club has not yet looked into the available options for funding the teams, according to Devittori.

The team may face some difficulties getting the club up and running before the school year ends.

“We have been working with Student Government member Bethany Morin. To start a club, you’re supposed to have the constitution in three weeks ahead so that student government could critique it,” Maestro said. “Considering we don’t have three weeks left in school, it could delay the beginning of the start of the club and possibly affect us playing other teams at the beginning of the year.”

The club team will offer a more flexible schedule to the players.
Berthiaume and DeVittori  both played soccer for the varsity teams at KSC.
They said the hectic lifestyle of being a student athlete can negatively affect their levels of  academic success.

“There are a lot of guys and girls out there who love to play soccer but just can’t commit that much time,” DeVittori said.

Junior Cameron Blair, who plays forward for the soccer team said soccer takes up a large amount of time in an average week.

“During the season, we have four practices and usually have two games in an average week,” Blair said. “Overall, it can take up to 20 hours a week.”

Club sports also work around students’ schedules.
Since there are no cuts in club sports, the students who want to participate can give as much time as they feel necessary.

“We’re only looking to have one or two practices and hopefully a game a week,” Berthiaume said.

The three representatives said they are looking to find a medium between playing varsity sports and intramurals.

“There are so many guys and girls who either get fed up with varsity sports or don’t have the time for it. This will provide them a step up from intramurals,” DeVittori said.     
The club is trying to set up teams for this upcoming fall and hope to start playing other clubs from the New England area, but it all depends whether or not the constitution passes.

The teams are taking advice from people who have recently been there.
Maestro said they have talked to one of the founding fathers of the KSC Hockey club, Owen Reinders.

“[Reinders] warned us that it was going to be a lot of work. He also told us to keep at it because the final product is going to be worth it,” DeVittori said.

The club’s information pages are two Facebook group pages: Keene State Women’s Soccer Club Team and Keene State Men’s Soccer Club Team.

The teams encourage anyone who has interest in soccer and still wants to kick the ball around to look into joining the club.

Chris Thelin can be contacted at cthelin@keeneequinox.com