By Jerry Fagerberg Staff Writer
It's the dream of every high school standout to go on and compete at a prestigious university - flexing their talent at the pinnacle of unprofessional sports.
The dream is planted young. Pop Warner football players and Babe Ruth ballplayers are trained in "college development" leagues filled with the fantasy that they might one day lace-up on the hallowed ground of their favorite colleges.
The exceptional ones catch the attention of scouts before they hit thirteen, but what about the rest?
Those not lucky enough to break into a varsity program are left with the demoralizing option of playing at the club level.
Jordan Berg, a former Division-1 soccer recruit here at Loyola, recalls the recruiting process.
"If I was told I was going to play club in college, I probably would've just laughed," he said, "it just wasn't an option."
Even the name "club" sports sounds demoralizing - as if they're merely social outings where members drink root beer floats and practice their secret handshake with one another. Club sports have a reputation for being nothing more than varsity rejects with their dials stuck in party mode.
But, after an unfair recruiting process and a few fall outs with the coaching staff, Berg finds himself anchoring a successful Loyola club soccer program rife with other high school hopefuls who didn't make the cut.
"There are probably ten or eleven of us that could still play division one - a lot of talented players," Berg said proudly of club soccer.
"We get a bad rap," said junior Tim Biscoe, a member of the Loyola Rugby Football Club. After graduating from football powerhouse Xaverian Brothers High School in Massachusetts as a first-string team member, Biscoe has seen both ends of the spectrum and is quick to admit the disparity.
"It's not at the same level," he said, "it's more loosely structured…but we work just as hard as any varsity athlete."
In his time at Loyola, Biscoe has seen the rugby team evolve from a rag-tag group of first-timers into a full-fledged spectator sport.
The same can be said of the club ice hockey team, which was founded in 1986 as a supplement to the binge-drinking needs of the then-college's low-level icebound athletes.
"When I was playing hockey here it was a joke," coach Rich Galasso (class of '97) said of his time with the Hounds, "now we have a good, strong tradition of playing at a high level of competition."
Galasso, now in his 11th season coaching for Loyola, knows how people perceive club sports. "There are certain schools where club sports are just a goof-off," he admitted, but added, "at this level of competition, we can't afford that."
Club sports run the gamut in terms of competition, but there is a definite class of programs that promote high-caliber competition - one which is thankfully showcased here at Loyola.
This is exemplified by the crew team which recently graduated from club status to the ranks of varsity. Despite this, the stigma still persists.
Perhaps it persists because of an overwhelming lack of sympathy in organized sports or because of a cultural emphasis on being "the best," but allow me to break it down for you from a first-hand perspective.
Club sports is all about second chances - not compromise. For me, it was the opportunity to rekindle competitive spirit I had playing high school hockey but without the deep-seated commitment and physical demands of Division-1 athletics. In a sense, we get to have our cake and eat it too. What Berg, Biscoe and Galasso all know is that there is no shame in not making the varsity cut. In fact, it's liberating.
The demands of a high-level college athlete are taxing and, at times, unfair. They're treated like professionals and expected to shoulder the weight of being a full-time student as well. Anything less that excellence is considered failure.
At the club level, we play for the love of the sport; without media or crowd attention, happy in the obscurity of our own private victories. We participate not for the glory or to boost ourselves into the realm of the professional - and we have a hell of a time doing it.
And there's nothing demoralizing about that.
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