The field hockey and paintball clubs are saying that despite being officially recognized clubs on campus, they are being deprived of field space to practice and hold matches.
“One of the conditions for the [field hockey] club to be recognized was that they understand that they need to find off-campus facilities [for practice and games],” said Rita Hayes, director of Club Sports and Recreation at Cal State Long Beach. “The groundskeepers have some concerns about the hockey sticks digging up the turf.”
CSULB Club Field Hockey Vice President Cathy Gaan, a sophomore business and marketing major, expressed her frustration over the lack of space.
“We didn’t realize that we wouldn’t be able to use the fields,” Gaan said. “We’ve had to play a game at an elementary school because we were told last-minute that we couldn’t use the fields.”
There are currently 33 active clubs offering recreational events for students.
“We’re at more than a saturation point when it comes to club sports,” said Mark Edrington, associate athletics director and general manager. “This has nothing to do with their status as a club sport. We’re facing the challenge of accommodating all users while maintaining the status of the field.”
Gaan said that of all the local field hockey clubs, CSULB’s is the only one that does not play home games.
“We’ve been having to rent out game fields at other schools,” Gaan said. “It costs us about $90 to rent a field, and that doesn’t include travel and transfer expenses.”
Joanna Moreno, a senior nutrition major and president of CSULB Club Field Hockey, recognizes the challenge the club faces.
“They just approved [field hockey] this summer,” Moreno said. “We’ve been using the rugby field to practice and we’re trying to work something out with the school.”
Scheduling has been an ongoing concern for the club administration.
Webber Elementary School, whose field has been used by the club, is almost 10 miles away from CSULB. The field is 80 yards long instead of the regulation 100 yards, Gaan said.
“We’re trying to start the [field hockey] club up again this year; we’re currently in fourth place in the league,” Gaan said. “We’re probably going to make it to playoffs, and we need more practice.”
Beach Paintball faces similar issues when it comes to use of the grounds.
“Older clubs usually have a better chance to use the field,” said Erik Muto, a sophomore business administration major and vice president of Beach Paintball.
Concerns about the mess the sport of paintball leaves behind are minimal; the paint used is water-soluble and the capsules are biodegradable, Muto said.
“When it comes to paintball, the concern came from campus police about gun issues, not field issues,” Edrington said.
Muto added that the club is facing funding issues as well.
“One of our problems is that we get funding to enter paintball tournaments, but we can’t spend those funds on necessities like practice,” Muto said, “and we can’t have an outside account to fund the practices, either.”
Maintaining the condition of the fields for club sports isn’t the only concern of field managers.
“Some of those fields are used as class space by the kinesiology department,” Edrington said. “We try to keep the field up for the department and the club sports, but we can’t keep up with what we have.”