Tennis anyone?
Not at Southwestern College.
Budget cuts are being blamed for the shut down of SWC's men's and women's tennis teams, the first college program of any type to be completely eliminated. Both men's and women's tennis coaches told their players the season was off last summer. It is still unknown whether tennis will be back as a sport in 2011.
Women's tennis coach Susan Reasons said she was willing to take a pay cut and her players could have had a bare-bones season for approximately $16,000 and bag of new tennis balls. Terry Davis, dean for the School of Health, Exercise Science & Athletics, said no. Davis said the reality of the state deficit has impacted the college greatly and left him with tough decisions for his school.
"As administrators you deal with facts," he said. "You don't deal with fiction…We just tried to be as fair as possible. That's all you can do."
Davis said his decision to cut the tennis came down to two criteria, which sport cut impacted the least number of student athletes and which sport would be easy to bring back. Each tennis team has 10 players.
Davis said he had once restarted a 50-person track and field team and it had required the purchase of large amounts of equipment and intense recruiting.
"I learned from that experience," said Davis. "If you are going to cut a sport, cut a sport that is easy to bring back. A sport that you can bring back in one day. To bring back tennis, our athletes need a uniform and a tennis racket, and they usually have their own tennis rackets."
SWC's women's tennis team has consistently been competitive in conference, according Reasons, including a 2001 co-championship. Several of her players have made All-Conference and transferred to university programs. At least one player has been sent to Southern California regionals every year since 2001.
The men's team is made up exclusively of local talent yet managed to stay competitive against colleges that recruit international players, according to coach Bill Foley. The men placed second in conference in 2007. SWC has been a major hub for tennis in Chula Vista since the 1970s, said Foley, and is also home to the SWC Community Tennis Center. Foley acknowledged that the college is under a tremendous financial burden and that he did not know the intricate details of the college's finances. But, he said, he did know his team intimately and wished he could have spoken with administration before his team was cut. He said he could have given the college some alternative options.
"I would have taken a pay cut," said Foley. "I would cut down the number of matches we play. There were things we could have done that would have given us a chance to save the program. It was just up and cut and that was it, there wasn't any discussion."
SWC's swimming team was to be cut as well, according to Davis. He said the program was able to find alternative funding. Reasons said the swim team supplemented its budget with proceeds made by the college's Turtle Swim program, which offers swimming classes to the public for a fee. She said the tennis team could have done the same thing, using the proceeds of the SWC Community Tennis Center, but the finances of the Center were not arranged the same way as the Turtle Swim Program.
"(The money is) lost in the (SWC) general fund," said Reasons. "I mean obviously no one back in 2001 saw this coming and we started years before Turtle Swim."
She said she hoped the Center's proceeds could come back to support tennis in the future.
Former players Janette Molina and Estefina Perez-Pinal were supposed to come back as the team's top two players, according to Reasons, and will now lose any shot of being ranked or receiving scholarships. Karen Vanderpool completed a painful and inspiring rehabilitation after a 2008 shoulder injury, said Reasons. Now she will not have an opportunity to play.
"Those kids came here," said Reasons. "We recruited them. They came here and they were a part of the college. They chose to come here instead of other schools and it's unfortunate."
Reasons said she used to be in charge of ranking community college women tennis players and stressed the importance of the athlete's second year of play when it comes to recruiters.
"It's the second year they are looking at," said Reasons. "Those rankings are what got kids scholarships or not. The key is the second year."
Foley said he was already planning for a 2011 season, even though there is no guarantee. He said if his players keep up their practice and play in public tournaments they can come back strong.
Sophomore Jeff Spradlin was undefeated last year playing as a red shirt freshman. While the 19-year-old's record did not count for the college, Spradlin said he wondered how his performance would have turned out this year. His father was a professional golfer and his brother currently plays professional baseball. He said he never expected anything from tennis after picking up the racket in high school, but wondered if he could have taken tennis to the next level like his father and brother. He will return next year and said he plans to try out for the 2011 team, if SWC has one.
"I'm still bummed that the team got cut," said Spradlin. "But what can I do?"
Reasons, while saying she was thinking positively, said she worried about her sophomore players losing out on a possible life-changing experience. She said sports was the difference for her getting a job versus getting a meaningful career.
"There are people who say, 'Sports, they are not that important'," said Reasons. "You know what? It changed my life."
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