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Schools

The Future of STLCC Sports, Part 2

A soccer player for the St. Louis Community College Archers balances priorities to adjust to STLCC's new districtwide athletics program.

The 2011-2012 school year has brought about some major scheduling changes for St. Louis Community College (STLCC) sophomore women's soccer player Allison Ring.

Ring, a student in the culinary program at the STLCC Forest Park campus, is in her second season playing in the STLCC's soccer program. Last year, she played for the Forest Park Highlanders soccer team. After the STLCC sports teams merged into a districtwide team called the Archers, Ring had to make some hefty adjustments to her work, commuting and school schedule.

Pam McIntyre, president of the Wildwood campus, said that last year the STLCC system experienced statewide budget cuts that reduced the amount of money that the colleges could use for their operating budget by around $3.3 million.

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The community college system realized that they could save up to $685,000 by consolidating the 15 sports teams from the three campuses into seven districtwide teams, which has many advantages, McIntyre said.

“It's kind of like a way of keeping athletics but reducing the cost,” McIntyre said. “And we hoped that we would not only be saving the cost, but that we would end up with an opportunity to have more competitive teams.”

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Ring said at first the move was interesting because the Forest Park girls soccer team was very leery of the Meramec girls. This is because they were rivals last year, and each team expected to go to regionals and play against each other.

“So it was a big game with a lot of tension. But the girls have really just been amazing, welcoming. We have really gotten along,” Ring said.

Ring said a lot of the athletes are outraged at the prospect of combining the sports, mainly because of the prospect of losing players.

None of the coaches on the 15 teams was full-time, so no coach lost a full-time position, but seven coaches lost part-time positions.

Commuting has been an adjustment for Ring, who lives close to the Florissant Valley campus but commutes daily to the Forest Park campus for the culinary program there. Now, she has to commute to Kirkwood daily for soccer practice. Ring said she spends close to $50 a week on gas.

The cost of gas would be more bearable if Ring were working daily at her family's downtown restaurant, Carmine's Steakhouse, as she did last year. But with the added priorities on her plate, she has had to reduce her work hours to around 10.

“Gas is terrible. It's kind of a struggle with that, but I think it is really worth it,” Ring said. “It is kind of hard to go to school at Forest Park and commute to Meramec every day, but you get used to it.”

While Ring is pleased with the experience overall, she said the hardest part was scheduling her classes. As a student in Forest Park's competitive culinary program, Ring said that many of her classes only meet at certain times and are hard to get into.

Fortunately for Ring, she has been able to focus on her lecture classes. Her lectures meet numerous times a week, so if she has to miss a class, she can go to another lecture.

“I work around it,” Ring said. “It has been a really good experience, at least for our program, and I really like Meramec's campus, and I really like their field.”

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