The Michigan Times

Way back in the fall of 2007, the University of Michigan-Flint got it’s very first competitive sports team in the form of ice hockey. Today, the campus is home to more

sports than ever. Recently, there has been a surge of new sports coming to campus, including soccer, football and basketball to name a few. This surge, 400% to be more precise, has brought a sense of school spirit to the campus.

Trevor Carpenter of the UM-Flint Hockey Club said it’s a wonderful thing to see so many new teams come to campus.

"It’s great to see so many people interested in playing sports here at the university," he said.

The immense increase has sparked the need for a new committee on campus.

The Ad Hoc Committee on the Club Sports Approval Process was formed recently to help aid the incoming sports teams with the beginning processes of starting up.

"We have gotten to the point where everyone has realized that the system we currently have in place just won’t get the job done anymore," said Wade Merrill, one of the founding members of the committee, and president of the Student Athletic Association.

"By studying the way other institutions similar to UMF handle the process we hope we can come up with a better system that will work well for students and the University."

So far, there have been a few bugs for the teams to work out right away. The cheerleading team is looking in to finding a head coach.

The football team has uniforms designed, but are waiting for the proper funding to be in place before ordering them.

Shanel Kewon, vice-president of the newly created Cheerleading Club, thinks it’s a wonderful thing for students to experience the same sports they played in high school, here on a college level.

"It makes people want to come to UM-Flint. It gives them an outlet to come here instead of going away."

With nearly a dozen clubs registered through the Student Athletic Association, there is no shortage of interest from students in joining those teams and the Ad Hoc Committee will be there to help any new clubs and members.

"Obviously budgets are tight everywhere and there is a lot of liability in sports," said Merrill. "We want to protect both our student athletes and the University and make sure everyone has all the support we can give them without putting anything at risk."