Club sports search for game space

With the construction of a new baseball stadium, administrators are helping teams find temporary space. They're being at least temporarily displaced by a big new project -- but not all of them are disappointed. The University's recent decision to build a 2,000-capacity baseball stadium on the southern end of campus has elicited a variety of responses, ranging from optimism to anger, from the club sport athletes who currently use the field on which the stadium is to be built. With the help of University recreation officials, several club teams -- including the men and women's rugby, soccer and Ultimate Frisbee squads -- are searching for a new field to call their own, since Murphy Field will no longer be theirs once Penn begins construction. Officials hope to open the stadium in time for the 2000 spring varsity baseball season, though they have not said when construction will begin. The Sports Club Council, composed of one representative from each club team, met with Recreation Director Mike Diorka Tuesday night. During the meeting, Diorka explained the situation to the council and brainstormed with the athletes about possible replacement facilities. Not everyone's happy, though. Wharton senior Rob Fuller, who was president of the council during the 1997-98 academic year, is frustrated that the issue came up this season, his final year with the rugby team. "We have over 45 people [trying] out for rugby this semester and have the kind of personnel to take Penn rugby to the playoffs and the national title," said Fuller, a current member of the SCC's executive board. "Too bad we don't have a place to practice anymore." Some athletes, like Engineering junior Ava Segal, the captain of the women's Ultimate Frisbee squad, are optimistic. Although Segal admitted she was "definitely concerned," she is confident that her team will play, as scheduled, during the spring. "They're basically looking into everything, and us not playing is really not considered an option," she said. Among the possible facilities that the club teams could eventually use are Hill Field, Drexel University fields and the soon-to-be renovated Bower Field, where the baseball team currently plays. The new stadium will be located next to the Schuylkill Expressway near the intersection of University Avenue and Civic Center Boulevard. Diorka said yesterday that "to go forward, there are always certain sacrifices that must be made." "Some people want to continue to live in the past, and Penn's not about that," he said. Indeed, several others agreed that the University is doing its best to find ample space for Penn's club teams. Rachel Tanner, vice president of the women's rugby team and member of the Sports Club Council executive board, conceded that despite the "setback," administrators are "really making an effort." "I think the University is doing a lot to make sure that we have a field," said Tanner, a Wharton junior. In fact, some club athletes believe that the change from Murphy Field is, ultimately, a move in the right direction. Said Tanner's teammate Sarah Mulholland, a Wharton senior and president of the team: "One semester's pain will pay for the better fields in the future." Fuller's teammate, Michael Slocum, a College junior and captain of the men's rugby team, was also irritated by the plans for the stadium. "I resent the fact that we were more or less pushed aside for a team that already has allocated space," Slocum said.