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March 31st, 2011 | Gymnastics, NCAA
Another Division III program is facing extinction.
The RIC Athletic Department has announced that they will be eliminating women’s gymnastics in favor of (women’s) golf and swimming. …
Facebook – Save Rhode Island College Gymnastics!
There’s a link to a petition on that page.
Thanks Matt Davis for getting the word out to the greater gymnastics community. Perhaps we can help.
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8 comments ↓
Please help! My daughter LIVES for gymnastics, and RIC was the only choice for her college education! Gymnastics is NOT a “dying sport”, as RIC administration would have you believe! How many little girls do YOU know that dream of competing at higher levels, maybe even in college? There are thousands of them! Please help keep these girls’ dreams alive!
Another higher education fail.
Women’s Artistic Gymnastics is a BIG sport compared with Golf.
I don’t understand their rationale, at all.
Rick,
1. you gotta be kiddin’ me…..
you think WAG is bigger than golf in the general population?
2. rationale from perspective of AthDir is e-a-s-y….
it’s much more cost effective to equip a golf team (sticks and balls) than a gym team…..
I guess I don’t understand Athletic Directors.
Gymnastics is a BIG Olympic TV draw. The general public is very interested in WAG.
I would think that program would be a nice part of my College Athletics program.
Women’s Golf … not nearly so interesting, I would think.
But perhaps it comes down to cost, especially facility cost.
WAG is bigger than women’s Golf, to answer your specific question.
with respect……how many varsity women’s golf programs are there in the NCAA?
1. AD issues? money in vs. money out……
no brainer that golf costs less than gym
2. forget tv….NCAA gym doesn’t make anything for college athletic depts…..yeah, it’s “fun” and fills up programming on FoxSports regional coverages, but a significant revenue source for colleges? no……
2a. and division 2/3? nope.
serious question: how many golf balls and clubs equal the cost of a modern spring floor?
As Co-Captain of the team, I can clarify these issues.
Gymnastics was not cut because of cost-effectiveness. We were cut because our AD believes that high school gymnastics is a “dying sport” in RI and he said he could fill up more spots for female varsity athletes by the addition of golf and swimming.
However, he failed to recognize that the Rhode Island High School Gymnastics State Meet is HUGE and takes HOURS because of the sheer number of competitiors. He also failed to see that two RI high school teams placed in the top 5 in the High School New England Regional Championship, AND that RI sends a team every year to High School Senior Nationals and has girls that qualify regularly for event finals every year.
RI has many regional champions and national event qualifiers coming out of their high school programs. Golf is not even a girl’s HS sport in RI; there is co-ed golf, and teams that harbor maybe 3-4 girls on their teams. On the contrary, most of the high schools in RI have full gymnastics teams, and the ones that don’t have girls that compete as independents. And this is all just high school, not even gymnasts at private clubs, which is a whole other group of young ladies.
URI cut their program. If RIC cuts theirs, there is no longer a public institution in RI that will have varsity gymnastics to offer to its in-state young women who wish to pursue gymnastics in their home state at the collegiate level.
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