This just in: Varsity sports are open to all, no experience required. This may come as a shock to many sports enthusiasts who have resigned themselves to permanent intramural status. A lack of competitive playing time, and the fear that team participation will eat away at precious study hours have been known to keep many potential athletes away during tryout time. But, as coaches and athletes will confirm, U of T is filled with amateur sport success stories.
“Rugby culture is trying to promote the sport,” said women’s rugby coach Sarah Hall. This year, Hall had several players with little to no experience tryout for her team. One of them, Lee-Anne Corrigan, has only a single season’s experience under her belt. Corrigan has been playing well so far, and is a welcome addition to the team. When asked if there have been many Corrigans in the past, Hall responded that “it happens once in a while with rugby, if the person is athletic.”
For Corrigan, being a part of a varsity team not only means great things for her physique, but it also allows her to get more hours out of the day. “Training gives me focus. You know you have a practice the next day or a game on the weekend, so you have to spend the time you have wisely; you have to get your school work done right away and get it out of the way. It’s a great driving force,” she contends.
Track and field coach Carl Georgevski has his own take on the benefits of athletics, especially for newcomers to his team. “An interesting statistic to note is that if we take all of the 750 varsity athletes that make up U of T’s 44 teams, and put them in one faculty, that faculty will have a higher percentage of A’s than any other faculty at the university,” he contends.
This year, coach Georgevski got more than 30 freshman athletes, 23 of whom are 17 years old, for his track and field crew. “We get a lot of student athletes with very little or no competitive experience, and a few years later, they are competing at the OUA level. We’re here to serve the student body and welcome students who want to compete.”
Another success story in U of T sports comes from the rowing team and Emma Robinson. Robinson, who attends U of T’s medical school, started rowing at this school with no prior experience. Within three years, she was selected to the national team and represented Canada in the 1996 Olympics. She has won the world championships numerous times, and has two Olympic medals (1996 and 2000).
Rowing team manager Christian Ventresca believes in rowing’s accessibility to the uninitiated. “It is an interesting sport because not only are you able to pick it up at any time, but your prime for rowing can be much later than other sports, even in your late-20’s or early 30’s.”
When asked about the time commitment athletes have to make, Ventresca responded, “I don’t want to preach too much, but I think that in terms of university sports, rowing has to be one of the hardest to excel at while also doing well at school. Very few teams train as hard as the rowing team, and I’m sure none train at 5:30 in the morning through the season in the dark and cold on the lake.” Cap that daily schedule off with a second workout in the gym later in the day, and it’s hard to believe that school gets factored into the equation. But, according to Ventresca, “the best rowers are often the best students.”
