U OF R AXES THREE SPORTS PROGRAMS

The University of Regina will go into the 2018-19 season with 13 teams instead of 16.

On Monday, it was announced the Cougar men’s volleyball team and both the men’s and women’s wrestling teams are being removed from the athletics program.

“The decision was extremely difficult,” said Harold Riemer, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina. “While our elite sports teams are a source of pride for the University, reducing the number of teams on campus enables us to concentrate efforts. We will look to meet the teaching and programming needs of a Faculty where enrolments have increased by 31 percent over the past five years and more effectively support competitive excellence within our remaining U SPORTS teams.”

Riemer added that “all savings realized will remain in the Faculty, enabling us to focus on the teaching and programming needs of a rapidly growing student population.”

Doing this was one of the recommendations in an Athletics Programming and Operations Report which was released in January of 2017.  That report stated supporting 16 programs was unsustainable and this will more closely align the number of teams to those at similar-sized institutions and better balancing the male to female athlete ratio on campus.

“We recognize that this is a difficult announcement for our student athletes. We are committed to supporting those athletes affected by this announcement by honouring scholarships and other accommodations made so long as the students remain in good academic standing at the University of Regina,” said Riemer. “Our students are our top priority throughout this transition.”

As a result of the team reductions, two full-time coaching positions are reduced and one term contract position will not be renewed.

(620ckrm.com)