Athletic Teams Expect New Gear in 2015

Hitting the end of the semester, the York College Athletics Department is just now getting new equipment and uniform gear, updating used and worn items that teams have been training with for years.

The need for uniforms and equipment has been pushed by faculty for almost three years, citing that in order for athletes to be on par with other colleges there would need to be upgrades.

“I think it’s gonna be really good for the department, we’ve been due and I tried to push the issue,” said Director of Athletics and also Coach for the men’s basketball team, Ronald St. John. “I spoke to a couple people and I didn’t really know if it was gonna happen.”

Student athletes roiled by the college are looking forward to the equipment, citing that their dedication to team sports should be noticed and appreciated considering recent headlines in the newspaper regarding poor graduation rates and a negative image of the college.

“The fact that we break our backs for this college that has a [five] percent graduation rate shows how much we mean to this university,” said Senior James Wolf playing for the men’s basketball team.

For a college that doesn’t have many things to lure players here, “new” means a lot to them. But St. John pointed out that despite the lack of gear or equipment, the effective coaching is what can act as a positive recruitment tool for student coming from junior campuses.

“When you play for me I’m not going to let certain things slide, I don’t take disrespect or let my players disrespect themselves,” said St John. “You’re going to carry yourselves as the young man you have potential to be.”

Repeating as champs is the goal for them, the new additions of equipment just gives a better chance for that. Senior Franklin Green thinks it is a step in the right direction.

“We are a good team and the new stuff is great I just hope we get to use it frequently as a team,” said Green. “Being that we are in CUNY its not as easy as a stay in college where you get to workout the entire day.”

Coach St John believes that this team is heading in the right direction, putting the sports department as one of the priorities of the college.

“When I was informed that we got the ok that they were going through with it showed us that they were taking us seriously,” said St John. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen just because of all the other things that York is involved with. Just happy they did it.”

With all the teams in the middle of the season, the new equipment has them excited. Even the women’s basketball team, who only won three games last year has already equal that amount of wins this season. Junior Samantha Bond, the team leader in scoring cannot wait for the new uniforms to come in.

“They’re going to be hot I think, makes us feel like we’re starting a new,” said Bond.