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Student Life

Men’s club soccer team reinstated

Posted by Marissa Kosiec ⋅ February 29, 2012 ⋅ 1 Comment

Filed Under budget, club soccer, men's soccer, soccer, Student Government

The men’s club soccer team is recovering from being deactivated after going broke.

According to Vice President Kurt Levin, the former president of the club did not request an annual budget for the fall 2010 and spring 2011 seasons. This disabled the team because there was no cash available for tournaments, equipment and referees.

To reestablish the team with a budget, the team had to start over as a new club.

“A team must wait 14 weeks to begin the eligibility process for a budget,” said Sports Clubs Coordinator Ashley Johnson. ”After that, an officer must submit paperwork requesting funding along with being an active Green Club member. Green Club means that every member is a USF student.”

President Matt Colontonio and Levin would not allow the team to disappear over someone else’s mistake so they went to the Sport’s Club Council, who then talked to Student Government and requested an interim budget to fund the fall 2011 and spring 2012 semesters. They ultimately got $3,000 after submitting a temporary budget request, which asked for a certain amount of money and gave reasons the team needed it.

USF has set up a point system report card to make sure the team gets the amount it needs. The more members from a team that attend certain meetings or events, the more points they can receive, and therefore, a higher grade on their report card. This step can be crucial to receiving more annual funding since the number of clubs fluctuates every year, which increases competition for funding.

However, with the expenses of equipment and transportation there is “nowhere near enough to fund the competitions we play in,” said Colontonio.

With such a shortage of cash, club members are required to use their own money in order to play.

“That $3,000 is enough for around three tournaments,” Levin said. “One tournament costs around $1,000, which includes hotel, referees, transportation and use of field charges. There is also a team fee of $300 at the beginning of every season through the Southeast Collegiate Soccer Alliance.”

The team recently began practicing on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Sycamore fields from 8 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.

About Marissa Kosiec

-Student at the University of South Florida (GO BULLS!) -Majoring in Public Relations -Play lacrosse and softball -Love music more than anything -This is my first blog so enjoy! :)

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