For many students involved with club sports at Gustavus, it would be nice if the famous Spider-Man quote “with great power comes great responsibility” worked the other way around.

Student-led organizations  require plenty of responsibility by their members, from group inception up until game time. Gustavus currently has ten club sports teams in existence: Men’s and Women’s Ultimate Frisbee, Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse, Men’s and Women’s Rugby, Equestrian, Figure Skating, Alpine Ski and Club Tennis. Each one of them was organized by students and continues to operate almost solely on student involvement.

Gustavus’ Director of Club Sports Kirstin Peterson serves as an adviser and overseer of club teams. Her primary tasks include signing off on finances and assisting with any problems or conflicts that may arise, but she admits that often times her services are rendered unnecessary.

“I’m here when the students need me, if they need me, but essentially club sports run themselves,” Peterson said.

For leaders of club teams, personal responsibilities grow from working hard and showing up to practice on time to securing practice facilities, recruiting members, scheduling games, providing uniforms and arranging transportation.

To top it off, all of these activities need to be paid for. As student organizations, club teams petition Student Senate every year for the funds they need to cover expenses from tournament fees to uniforms to hotel stays. Often the amount of money allotted isn’t enough.

Each team handles budget shortfalls differently.  Many require player fees to help cover costs. Some, like Women’s Ultimate Frisbee, allow members to work off their fees by working fundraising shifts for Dining Services. The Men’s Lacrosse team sends letters out to family and friends asking for donations.  This year they’ve created a “giving page” on the school’s website and reached out to former players through Alumni Relations. Fundraising becomes crucial, coupled with recruiting more members, it means cheaper fees for everyone involved.

The survival of a club team is dependent on renewed persistence in fundraising and recruiting year after year. A team who is strong one year could disappear the next with waning interest or a large graduating class. The Men’s Lacrosse team took a ten-year hiatus due to lack of interest and involvement in the program. When the team reformed in 2008 they had to start at ground zero and play catch up to other teams in the area who were gaining momentum while they were away.

Regaining lost ground or maintaining progress can be difficult to do with the little resources and facilities available to club sports.

“We’re at the bottom of the food chain, below varsity, below JV, before intramurals,” Bonnie Hilmoe, senior women’s ultimate captain said. “We just have to roll with the punches.”

Other programs have run into similar problems securing resources.

“There are a lot of inconveniences [for club sports]. We basically get the leftovers for facilities and there is a lot of responsibility on the captains to make sure the team functions smoothly. Those are negatives, but they can be spun into positives as well,” Senior Men’s Lacrosse Captain Blake DeRosier said.

The Women’s Rugby team learned firsthand how to make the most out of their situation when they made it to the national tournament in 2010.

“When we went to Nationals we proved that even though we are a club sport and we might not seem like a serious team, we are working hard and can compete with and do just as well as teams who are given more resources,”Alison Agather, junior women’s rugby president said.

This sense of pride and ownership appears to be a widespread side effect of the increased responsibility that comes with a club team.“The greatest part about the team is that it’s ours. Whatever happens is up to us,” DeRosier said.

Putting the reigns in the hands of the students gives them the opportunity to cultivate their program and take it where they want to go.

So even if it remains true that club sports are at “the bottom of the food chain,” leaders of the team still charge ahead.

“We do it because we love it, it’s not an obligation,” Hilmoe said.

Perhaps it’s time to start a new saying: “with great responsibility comes great reward.”