Participants in club sports have continued to face a mixture of challenges and successes in sustaining and enabling non-varsity athletic activity under the tier system, according to current leaders of their organizations.
In the tier system under which all club sports operate, teams are assigned to tiers one, two or three based on certain team characteristics. Club sports are assigned a tier one or tier two designation if they do not parallel a varsity sport, while tier three teams already have a counterpart varsity sport on campus, according to prior reporting by The Campus.
Women’s rugby co-captain Penny Ly ’25 shared her perspective on the tier system, stating that her team’s tier one designation allows them substantial flexibility in competitions and support staff.
“The tier system so far has benefited us in allowing us the opportunity to compete multiple teams a season, for two seasons a year,” Ly wrote. “Our head coach K.O. Onufry has been an integral part of making rugby accessible to all players.”
Tier one and tier two teams are allowed to have two competitive seasons each academic year, while tier three teams are granted one competitive season and one recreational season. Additionally, tier one teams require a paid coach because of physical danger inherent to the activity, while tier two and tier three club sports do not have similar oversight. Tier one teams are the highest priority club sports teams and are allotted the most funding, while the other tiers sit lower on priority list and are thus granted fewer resources.
Men’s club soccer frequently attracts over 100 students at its open practices and selections, demonstrating a strong interest in non-varsity soccer options for students. Given their status as a tier three team, however, men’s club soccer has faced challenges in scheduling and reserving field spaces, according to Tom Haugen ’25, co-president of men’s club soccer. This past spring, his organization was told by the Student Activities Office (SAO) that they could not play competitive games, even though they were not asking for additional funding to do so.
President of men’s rugby Cole Siefer ’25 is also the co-director of the Student Government Association Finance Committee (SGAFC), where he helps allocate funding to club sports. Siefer believes that the tier system, while imperfect, offers important structure and guidance for club sports.
“I think it's helpful to kind of guide organizations and kind of give them a home within club sports that can give them the support they need to succeed,” Siefer said.
While tier one teams receive the most resources and competition time, Co-president of the women’s crew team Piper Harring ’25, shared that even as a tier one team, they struggle to find and retain coaches.
“One of the biggest issues Midd Crew has faced in recent years is frequent turnover in coaches. We are currently in our third coaching transition in two years. We are beyond grateful for the hard work of our assistant coaches who have stuck around through the chaos,” Harring wrote in an email to The Campus.
Harring also attributed the struggle to find a coach to the fact that the crew team competes against varsity programs, but has club status at the college.
“I think that it is hard to find a coach as a club team that is competitive among other club teams and D-3 varsity programs,” she wrote.
This fall, the crew team will be coached primarily by Rich Connell. He was formerly the head coach of the crew team but accepted a new role as assistant director of outdoor programs at the college last fall. Connell stepped in to coach again this fall after the team failed to find a new coach for the 2024–2025 season.
Despite the complications that come with having a coach, the leaders of clubs like rugby and crew acknowledged the privilege of being a tier one club sport.
“For me, being a Tier 1 club sport is the closest acknowledgement crew will get to a varsity status. Although we have to supplement the SAO funding with our own fundraising and gift account, we do get the benefit of more competitions and two full racing seasons,” co-president Audrey Maxwell ’25 wrote in an email to The Campus.
Across tiers, club sport leaders expressed a common frustration over coordinating logistics with the SAO in recent years due to the system’s complexity and at times adversarial relationships between clubs and the office.
“Navigating communication with SAO also has a lot of moving parts due to the shared responsibilities between different people in the office,” Ly said.
Maxwell said at one point, coordinating with the SAO was a major challenge of club sport logistics for the crew team as they felt ignored.
“At the beginning of my time at Midd, SAO seemed to be the opposition, something limiting us or not listening to our concerns. This feeling came to a head in the spring of 2023 when we started talking about the search for a new head coach,” Maxwell wrote, adding that in recent times their relationship has improved substantially. “We’ve had more consistent meetings, and feel that communication between leadership and the SAO office is now a core part of our season transitions.”
Though frustrations about the configuration of club sports persist, dedication to keeping the non-varsity athletics scene vibrant remains strong. Presidents and captains of club sports teams remain passionate about preserving access to athletic opportunities and getting as many students as possible involved with their organizations. Haugen, Siefer, Harring, Ly and Maxwell all emphasized the inclusive nature of club sports, and each expressed the importance of club sports to their Middlebury experience.
“The importance of sports cannot be overstated,” Haugen said, co-president of men’s club soccer. Haugen felt strongly about the role of club sports in facilitating interpersonal connection, especially for new students. He described meeting some of his best friends during his first year on the team.
"I think club sports are a great opportunity for underclassmen to meet people while having a community and mutual activity to enjoy. When I was a freshman, I was immediately introduced to both a ton of upperclassmen and a ton of kids my year. I feel like it can be more difficult for some students to meet people, and I think that club sports do bridge that gap,” Haugen wrote in an email to The Campus.
“Club sports are so important, and Midd Crew has been a hallmark of my Middlebury experience,” Harring wrote. “With the wide variety of sports and levels of commitment, people can get outside, be active, and find community. Each club sport has their own community that keeps people coming back.”
