If my University has Cross Country but no Track?

Go to your Associated Student Government office and register as an official club. You might even get a little budget. It won't be much but it might cover entry fees and gas. You may need a campus mentor/sponsor to sign for you, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Transfer to a school that actually sponsors track.

Can our cross country coach do it? Or someone else has to do it? I'm sure if there is no pay, no coach will do it. I know our coach won't do it unless there is money involved.

What about Equipment? To each his own?

sounds quite possibly like the greatest university ever

My school is the same way with varsity XC but the track team was cut in 2002 for numerous factors. In our case the track club that replaced the varsity team is student run and it was originally funded as any other club is on campus. Now we have a separate club sports budget and a club sports committee to handle all of the school's club sports (10 sports).

Our cross country coach has a role in the club as an adviser and he helps in some aspects of the coaching on an individual basis. We also have several other faculty members that donate their time to the club in going to meets, etc. This season, I am going to shoulder some of the coaching load, as I have spent the last couple months injured and won't be fit enough to race for most of the season.

Equipment comes out of that budget as well as money for travel. In some cases we have had athletes buy their own equipment so that they can continue to compete post collegiately, or they needed new equipment when there was no money budget for it (broken hammer). Equipment purchased by the club belongs to the club, so it must be returned at the end of the season (including uniforms).

In many ways, our program is better off, because we have some of the old equipment from when we had a varsity program, but participation has been our biggest problem.

Starting a club program is definitely possible, but it requires a lot of hard work. This my second year in charge of the team, and it feels like I have three full time jobs with school, training/competing and managing the team, but it has been worth it I think. It has been my goal to try to put the team in a position in which it could return to varsity status with a nearly seamless transition.

I said a lot more than you asked, but I hope it helps. Shoot me an e-mail if you have more questions.

4real wrote:

Can our cross country coach do it? Or someone else has to do it? I'm sure if there is no pay, no coach will do it. I know our coach won't do it unless there is money involved.

If your coach cares about the xc team, he will coach track for free. We were in the same situation, and our coach, for no pay, strove to make club track as much like a varsity sport as possible. If he doesn't do that, he won't have a good team in the fall, either.

rankler wrote:

If your coach cares about the xc team, he will coach track for free.

That's commendable by your coach. But time away from the family to work for free, is a lot to ask.

On our team (DI XC but no track) we require practice and competition in the winter and fall, just under the rules of an out of season sport under the NCAA. So we can only hold official practice 4 days a week, for a total of 8 hrs. a week. We give the team mileage goals for the week, and run our workouts and long runs within the four official days we are given. We require 2 indoor meets, a road race, and 2 outdoor meets, run in open/unnattached elligible meets on XC season budget fumes. Yeah, not ideal and we only have distance runners, but I feel it works better for us than a club. If all we had were a club, we wouldn't have near as much direction over their development, and probably the majority of the XC team wouldn't do it. If you're not going to train and do some competing year round, than why even bother? I would see if a situation similar to this is a possibility before starting a club, just because of the complications and lack of direction inherent. Yeah, you would think a coach who is really in it for the right reasons would want involvement in your training over the winter and spring, but I can understand if they just don't have the time if it's not a full-time job and they have a family.

Throughout college, I just paid my own gas with the occasional teamate who was willing to come along, and raced about 6 or 7 times total (5 and 10ks mostly), paying the $15 entry fee or so in open meets in the region. It is frustrating though. It's a very clear statement from the school administration saying "yes, we are well aware you can't expect to compete without a track team, but that's not your purpose. You're only purpose here is to fulfull Title IX and DI minimum sponsored sport requirements."

There's always a way if you have the right people with the right attitudes.

4real wrote:

What about Equipment? To each his own?

no, you should ask the university to use other students' tuition to buy you shoes.

Any thoughts on liability? Like if you were hurt during track season, but ther is no track team. Is the school obligated to treat you with their trainers? What about travel, could you ride in the same bus or van with the girls (if they still have track) even though you are running unattached?

I doubt you would have official access to the athletic depatment's trainers if it came from track, but I bet you could get away with small stuff, like ultrasound/icing/wrapped ankles, that sort of thing. And riding with the girls probably depends on the coach. It probably isn't something they're supposed to do, but I bet many of them would look the other way as long as they have the room and you don't expect hotel rooms/meal stipends as well.