Mike Cassidy, Roosevelt's athletic director, says that the school has made "dramatic progress" in its quest to bring sports activities back to the school after a twenty-year hiatus.
"We've gone from being a school talking about having an athletic program to being ready to have games," Cassidy said.
Roosevelt will be officially introducing seven Varsity athletics programs as of this year. Cross-country and basketball will begin this fall, as well as women's tennis, with men's baseball and tennis to follow in the Spring.
Roosevelt's first official competitive event will take place on September 3, when both the men's and women's cross-country teams will compete in the Elmhurst, Ill Early Bird Invitational, at Eldridge Park. The women's 4,000-meter race begins at 5 p.m., and the men's 6,000-meter race begins at 5:45 p.m.
It's "athletics in full swing," Cassidy said, who welcomes all students to get involved at some level. Roosevelt is still looking for talented student athletes to tryout for Varsity teams. Cassidy suggests students check the new athletics website for information on tryout dates. "It's a significant commitment to be a varsity athlete," cautions Cassidy. "I like to tell students it's 20 hours a week for 24 weeks."
But students can also get involved by working with the Office of Intercollegiate Athletics in a game management or marketing capacity. Job opportunities are still available and offer an opportunity to "see what it's really like behind the scenes" Cassidy said.
Roosevelt will be competing in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, which consists of fifteen teams. as far reaching as Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee and Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Ind. Roosevelt will be the third Chicago school to join the conference, joining our downtown neighbor Robert Morris University, and also St. Xavier University. Roosevelt is rejoining the conference, having left when the sports program was abandoned in 1989.
"It's an exciting time for Roosevelt, and an exciting time for the conference," said Dave Lateka, interim commissioner of the CCAC. "It's a really good fit for us to have them back in the conference."
Lateka highlighted the regional focus of the conference as a strongpoint. With all teams within the Chicagoland tri-state area, travel time between competitions is kept to a minimum, which helps student athletes stay on track with their studies as well. "The successful student athlete is the one who can achieve both in the classroom and on the playing field," Lateka said.
The addition of Roosevelt to the CCAC also opens up further advantages for all competing teams. For instance, Roosevelt will be the sixth school to compete in tennis, giving the CCAC enough teams to have an official conference championship event. The CCAC is one of the largest conference affiliations in the 25-member National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, or NAIA. "With Roosevelt joining us, that only strengthens our position," Lateka said.
Though Roosevelt will be a provisional member of the conference for the first year, and thus ineligible for post-season play, teams will be up against some stiff competition right off the bat. Robert Morris, St. Xavier and Olivet Nazarene have all had nationally-ranked basketball teams in recent years, with the St. Xavier women's basketball team ranked second in their division nationally last year.
Roosevelt will continue to develop its athletics programs in the coming years, with volleyball planned for the 2011-12 academic year, and men's and women''s soccer, women's softball, and women's golf are planned to begin in for the 2012-13 academic year.
Cassidy realizes that building teams from the ground up will be a challenge, especially in the first year, but he remains optimistic about Roosevelt's competitiveness. "I think were going to surprise a lot of people with how competitive we're going to be.," Cassidy said. "We're just going to lay low right now and surprise some people."
Students interested in getting involved with Roosevelt Lakers athletics are encouraged to check the program's website, www.rooseveltlakers.com, or e-mail him directly at mcassidy@roosevelt.edu for more information.
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