Though basketball, volleyball, baseball, tennis, track and cross-country sound appealing to join, none of them are the world’s most popular sport — soccer.
I’ve played the sport since I was five and have continued whenever I got the chance. Playing intramural soccer was the most I have gotten from Loyola, and that experience, quite frankly, was not good enough. The tournament was over a span of two weekends, my team did not practice and we played only three games.
Intramural soccer was unorganized. Communication was through e-mail, which should speak for itself. As a “free agent,” I met my team five minutes before our first game. Most of my team members didn’t show up (maybe because they didn’t check their e-mail) so we resorted to asking anyone who passed by if they wanted to play. Eventually, we had enough players and did not have to pay that ridiculous forfeit fee.
People are interested in soccer, but it is difficult to keep them interested if those leading intramural teams are apathetic. Look at our athletics, for instance. All of our teams are strong because the coaches care.
At one point, Loyola did offer an intercollegiate soccer team — a women’s soccer team. The university never offered a team for men. The team was discontinued after the 2006-2007 academic year due not only to Hurricane Katrina, but also a lack of permanent field space and financial reasons.
Though Brett Simpson, associate athletic director, said the university made every effort to keep women’s soccer after the hurricane, I think it makes sense to have to cut a few departments.
Simpson even mentioned Loyola was the only university in New Orleans not to have cut athletic programs immediately. Tulane University and University of New Orleans offered intercollegiate soccer before the hurricane but now list it as intramural and, just as I thought, soccer is nowhere near Xavier University.
But FEMA trailers aren’t on soccer fields in Audubon Park anymore, so why isn’t there a team now? As a university dedicated to social justice, it is Loyola’s duty to keep soccer alive within New Orleans universities.
“Loyola 2012,” the university’s strategic plan, aims to improve student retention by enhancing the athletic program as one approach. Part of this is to increase the number of intercollegiate athletic sports with soccer, hopefully, as one of them. Simpson said the university will offer both men’s and women’s soccer, but how long will it take to implement this?
Because we do not have a soccer field, our team played at several fields, including Audubon Park, City Park, Lafreniere Park, Tulane and UNO. I don’t see a problem in playing on those fields again. And since enrollment is so large that students may have to triple up in Biever, I don’t foresee further financial problems.
Soccer is an important part of the world and we need it at Loyola. The university stresses its cultural diversity, but does not offer perhaps the most culturally diverse sport.
Precious Esie can be reached at
