More sports more opportunities

                                                                        By Peter Fernandez

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FARMINGDALE, NY - Farmingdale State College has nine different men’s sports to choose from. This may seem like plenty of options but many students at FSC struggle with finding a sport and joining a team. If Farmingdale wants to build more school spirit and create more opportunities for students, it should consider adding different sports.

Two sports that would fit well with our current lineup are football and rock climbing/bouldering. Football is usually the biggest and most popular sport at colleges, and we do not have a team. Football games can boost school pride, improve campus life on weekends, and increase overall student involvement. American football is also the most popular sport in our country so the fact that we don’t have a football team is a missed opportunity.

Rock climbing seems like a completely different choice, but I feel that’s exactly why we need it at Farmingdale State College. Rock climbing is not necessarily a traditional sport, but it is very physically demanding and helps build problem solving skills. Rock climbing is quickly gaining popularity with younger people, and adding it to our roster of sports could help FSC stand out.

There are two different kinds of rock climbing, The first being top rope, where the climber is strapped to a rope and you usually climb very tall walls. The second is bouldering, which is on much shorter walls and you climb with no equipment except shoes.  Competitions could include both speed climbing and difficult bouldering routes.

One of the biggest problems with a school trying to form a rock-climbing team would be either building or finding a place suitable for the students to use. Lucky for us, there is a rock-climbing gym just down the road from Farmingdale State College that has plenty of room to host school competitions and allow students to develop skills. Implementing a football field would be less complicated in theory as we have the space to build a field and bleachers, but it will be expensive.

If Farmingdale wants to grow its campus culture, sports and athletics are a great place to start. Football would bring excitement and spirit, while rock climbing would bring variety and accessibility. Both represent ways Farmingdale can grow and reach new people.