Many UCM students are surprised that UCM does not have a men’s soccer team. According to Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Matt Howdeschell, UCM has never had a men’s varsity soccer team; the only varsity soccer team UCM has is the women’s Jennies soccer team.
“I asked people around me, when is the university soccer team going to play a game?” said Abu Bakarr Kanu, a master’s student from Sierra Leone. “And then someone told me that there’s no men’s team but there is one for women, so kind of skeptical, why is there one for women and there is none for the men’s team.”
There are a few main reasons that UCM does not have a men’s soccer team: gender equity through Title IX, budget and facilities and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association conference does not sponsor it.
Title IX is a 1972 federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education. Title IX requires specifically that men and women student athletes have equal participation opportunities for varsity sports, including fairness in staffing, coaching, funding and support resources. UCM has seven men’s teams and eight women’s teams. According to Howdeschell, comparing sports one-to-one isn’t how gender equity is evaluated; instead, multiple factors are taken into account.
“There are a lot of different factors we look at when it comes to gender equity. The biggest ones are the number of student-athletes and the number of scholarships that are offered. You can’t compare sports directly. It’s not as simple as saying, ‘We have baseball, so we need softball,’ or matching every women’s sport with a men’s sport. Title IX doesn’t work that way. There are different prongs a school can meet to show compliance, so it’s really about ensuring equal opportunities overall rather than having identical sports,” said Howdeshell
According to Associate Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lori Hopkins and Howdeshell, any time UCM adds a sport, whether it’s a male sport or a female sport, there is always new budgeting and staff required. UCM would have to upgrade or build new facilities to support a men’s soccer team. Even though there is a soccer field, UCM would still require new locker rooms and new offices.
“When you add another sports program, you’re not only just adding the staff for that program, you’re adding staff for your support system,” said Hopkins. “We have to hire another athletic trainer, strength and conditioning. We’re limited with our resources and facilities, those kinds of things.”
According to Howdeshell, the MIAA conference does not sponsor men’s soccer, which is a large part of why UCM does not have a men’s soccer team.
“The more MIAA schools that have men’s soccer, the more likely it [UCM having a men’s soccer team] is. But also, we have our own individual considerations on our own campus to decide if this is the right sport for us,” said Howdeshell.
Kanu said he wishes there were opportunities for men to play varsity soccer at UCM, not only because he has played his entire life, but because he believes the sport can unite people.
“My whole life, there is only one game I know to play, which is soccer,” said Abu Bakarr Kanu. “Back home in Sierra Leone, we have many things that divide us, but when it comes to soccer, we are one. Sports can bridge differences, race, culture, anything. It brings people together and I believe it could do the same here on campus.”
