Ties between University of Connecticut Recreation and numerous UConn club sports teams have been severed following initial budget constraints and recent demotions from club sport status.
These structural changes to the sector of club sports came early in the spring semester, forcing student teams to rely solely on financial support from the Undergraduate Student Government and club fundraising in the upcoming budget year.
In a statement to The Daily Campus included in the university’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request, UConn said it was working to address its funding shortfalls.
“[The university] has been working to address fiscal constraints throughout this budget year as it faces state funding shortfalls and other revenue reductions,” the statement read. “This has required cost-containment plans throughout the institution, including the Division of Student Life & Enrollment and UConn Recreation.”
The funding for each club team will continue through the end of the spring semester and the change will go into effect during the fall 2026 semester beginning July 1.
USG held a town hall on Feb. 17 to hear directly from the teams impacted by the funding change. Teams in attendance included women’s rugby, men’s lacrosse, water polo, hockey, tap, women’s ultimate, men’s soccer, field hockey, cycling, men’s and women’s skiing and women’s lacrosse.
During the town hall, teams spoke on their struggles for financial support travel. They also touched on communication difficulties with the UConn Recreation Center and the lack of notice on club sport team cuts.
“I’ve met with the dean of students and I met with Vice President of Student Life and Enrollment Nathan Fuerst to discuss next steps, because this is impacting a large population of students and I am worried about the sustainability of these programs,” USG Comptroller Billy Lipinski said. “I do believe that the Rec Center wants what’s best for these groups, but right now, it’s not what’s best for these groups.”
The Rec Center’s resources will remain available for club sports teams throughout the transitional period.
“UConn Recreation will continue to support the operations of club sports teams, including with resources such as access to Rec spaces, support for their fundraising efforts, and helping them identify other potential funding sources,” the university’s FOIA statement read.
The FY26 and FY27 SLE Department Budget Reduction Recommendations show a $400,000 proposed expense reduction for fiscal year 2027, a $100,000 decrease from the current budget. The budget shows an allocation of $123,000 for Club Sports funding in FY27.
Prior to the funding changes, UConn Recreation recognized and supported 36 club sports teams, as stated on their website. The UConn Ski Team was among one of many club teams to be demoted.
“We received an email from the Rec basically saying that because we didn’t meet certain requirements that they had, we would no longer be considered a club sport,” sixth-semester ski team Secretary Nathan Zimbleman said.
Zimbleman said the ski team does not practice at the Rec Center — they go north to the slopes in Vermont and New Hampshire to practice.
“All club teams lost their funding, but only teams that do not use UConn-managed facilities — including the ski team — were also removed from Club Sports and transitioned to Registered Student Organizations,” club ski member Trevor Buckeridge said in a written statement to The Daily Campus. “In their communication, Recreation stated that for teams operating outside their facilities, ‘there is no longer a clear operational purpose for remaining within the Club Sports program.’”
The team relied on the financial and administrative support provided by UConn Recreation as a registered club sport.
“This decision has immediate financial consequences for our athletes,” Buckeridge said. “Team dues are already $900, and for those who travel and compete at higher levels, including nationals, total out-of-pocket costs can exceed $1,500 per year. For context, this is already comparable to or lower than other club sports — such as club lacrosse, where dues can reach around $2,000 annually.”
Buckeridge voiced concern with the tightening of the team’s budget and how fundraising efforts and coordinating with the USCSA, the governing body of collegiate ski racing, will be handled moving forward.
Teams removed from club sport status were informed via email of the change in status by UConn Recreation, describing it as an “opportunity” for teams, Buckeridge said.
The email said “that the transition ‘provides an opportunity for teams to continue their activities outside of Club Sports,’” Buckeridge said. “In reality, what is being labeled as an opportunity is the removal of funding, structure, and institutional support that teams have relied on for years. That language feels not only misleading but dismissive of the very real impact on student-athletes.”
The ski team consists of 22 members who compete in Division I competitions, most recently winning the women’s national championship in the Slalom event last year.
“I think having this decision made for us was surprising,” Zimbleman said. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily a bad thing, because it is probably the decision we would have made eventually, but they didn’t really give us a warning in saying, ‘hey, you’re not a club sport anymore.’ It just kind of happened out of the blue, again, without a whole lot of communication.”
Even with the loss of financial support from UConn Recreation, the team expressed their appreciation of the support from student leaders in USG.
“It’s also important to note that this decision came from UConn Recreation, not from the student body,” Buckridge said. “[USG], which is student-run, continues to fund our team and remains our primary source of university support. In that sense, student backing for teams like ours is still strong, even as administrative support is being reduced.”
Even with the changes to the team’s official status and new budgetary limits, the ski team plans to return to the slopes.
“We are confident in our ability to continue forward, but this decision significantly increases both the financial and operational burden on student-athletes,” Buckridge said. “More than anything, it leaves us questioning how teams like ours fit into the university’s priorities moving forward.”
Another club sport that faced a demotion from club sport status was the UConn Woodsmen, a team of about 25 to 30 individuals. The sport competes in a series of timber sports, like chopping wood, sawing and chainsaw events. These events are speed-based and replicate what lumberjacks do in the lumber and timer industry.
The woodsmen compete in roughly eight competitions throughout the entire academic year: three in the fall semester and four or five times in the spring, according to Chase Haitsch, the club’s secretary. These competitions have brought the team to colleges in New York and Maine.
Their travel expenses are covered by the funding they receive from USG and through fundraising efforts they host during the academic year.
“I don’t exactly remember what it is, but [UConn Recreation] gives us a flat thing of $1,000 or $1,500, or something like that,” Haitsch said. “We usually use that for some of our extra stuff, like… our home meet competition every spring semester, usually at the beginning. It takes a lot to fund that event.”
Haitsch continued to state that UConn Recreation has helped the club by providing paramedics during the competitions, which has allowed funding from USG to go directly to travel costs.
Unlike other club sports, the team doesn’t utilize the UConn Recreation Center spaces to practice. Practices for the woodsmen are held at the Ratcliffe Hicks Arena, located on the east side of the Storrs campus.
The team maintained open communication with the Rec Center when it came to organizing campus competitions and general meetings and did not have any issues. The only surprising moment occurred after their removal as a club sport.
“After we got kicked off the club sports program, it was kind of like a shock because we had previously discussed in our meetings that the actual funding was going to go away from the Rec just because of the budget constraints,” Haitsch said. The team was going to lose their Rec money before they lost their status as a club sport.
Prior to hearing about the changes in their tiered club status, the Rec has asked the team if they still wanted to remain a club sport.
“We believed that it was going to be our choice. But one day, we woke up and we just got an email with a couple of other club sports telling us that it wasn’t our decision and that we were no longer a club sport,” Haitsch said.
The woodsmen were among the many cut club sports that were surprised by the demotion, as they were under the impression the decision would involve their input or would be on their terms.
“We actually were going to have a meeting at one of our board meetings, to decide whether it was worth it to stay as a club sport or not,” Haitsch said. “I believe we all wanted to stay as a club sport, but the decision was taken out of our hands.”
Navigating this change in organizational structure is now up to the team to figure out through their offseason in preparation for fall recruitment.
“I believe that the title of a club sport draws a lot of people in and it’s good for recruiting,” Haitsch said. “The club sports came with a certain level of prestige and it put us on the map and got something that I would consider a niche sport to get out there.”
As a veteran member, Haitsch stated the team’s growth over the past two years has been monumental, seeing larger incoming classes participating in the wood-based sport.
“I know our team, I know we’re strong, I know we can get through it, but I just want to leave it better than I found it and this is making it a bit hard,” Haitsch said.
The UConn Club Running team practices on the track located behind Gampel Pavilion, typically at the same time as the field hockey team and among the many sports that lost their status.
There are 120 members on the team roster that participated this fall, with about 50 individuals continuing to race in the spring semester. Forty-nine of these members travel to compete at nationals which can be located anywhere from Pennsylvania, Virginia or in the Midwest.
“We were considered a Tier V club by the Rec, that’s like the lowest tier, which meant the least funding,” Colin Slavin, the team treasurer, said. “We were only getting $1,000 a year from the Rec and then our cap from USG was $15,000, so we would usually use the $1,000 from the Rec to contribute towards our league dues.”
The contribution from the Rec directly covers the team’s $1,500 fee to the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association, with the remaining $500 of the cost being pulled from the team’s Student Activities Business Services’ account, according to Salvin.
Even though the team requires minimal support from the Rec, the loss of that support has left the team asking what guidelines influenced the retention of some teams over others, team members said.
“I feel like they’re just kind of cutting the lower-class sports that aren’t getting that much funding and I don’t see the point of that,” Jacob Gilson, the team’s event coordinator, said. “I guess, if we’re only $1,000 a year, but we have other clubs who are definitely getting a lot more than us and spending a lot more… if they’re gonna just keep clubs who are getting $10,000 and cut the ones who get $1,000 it doesn’t seem fair.”
The club has faced numerous fee increases within the past few semesters due to changes in funding allocation.
“A couple years ago, USG used to fund everybody going on trips, but they recently capped it at 16 [people]… We take 49 people each season so that’s 33 people that we have to pay for now,” Salvin said. “As a result, we had to increase our club dues each semester, which sucks because everyone’s already paying so much in fees… I’ve definitely heard some questions about, ‘why am I paying this if I’m not going to be represented by that organization?’”
With the loss of funding from UConn Recreation and now the changes in status, the team now must manage their practice reservation requests through UConn Athletics, which may take more time to organize than the team is accustomed to, according to Salvin.
“But even with the Rec, there’s been multiple times where we’ve had to email four or five reminders [regarding practices],” Salvin said. “There’s been times where we don’t know what days we have practice… We show up to the track … and we’re not allowed on the track and it wasn’t communicated with us, or is communicated 15 minutes prior to practice. So, yeah, I don’t think communication is their strong suit.”
Looking forward, the team is unsure of what opportunities will be available to them as a general RSO organization.
“I won’t be here next school year, so I’m not sure exactly what their plan is, but they’re gonna have to either fundraise increase dues, try to get USG to fund it,” Salvin said. “There’s a couple different avenues you could go down, but all in all, it does definitely hurt to not have that money available to us anymore.”
There have already been internal conversations about cutting down the team’s competition schedule, potentially not making it to nationals, Salvin said.
But they have funds to pay geeno millions and even players millions but uCONN can’t scratch together a couple buck for Club sports. Warped.