Mohawk College drops four of its varsity sports programs for 2021
Published January 26, 2021 at 2:37 pm
Mohawk College announced Tuesday (Jan. 26) it will be cutting four of its sports programs in 2021.
Badminton, golf, men’s indoor soccer and women’s indoor soccer teams will no longer represent Mohawk in Ontario Colleges Athletics Association competition.
The decision follows a two-year review of all Mohawk Athletics Department varsity programs, according to the college, that says the decision was made based on “performance history, student participation rates, and college recruitment success.”
The Mountaineers will continue to support varsity teams in women’s and men’s basketball, volleyball and outdoor soccer. Co-ed curling and cross-country, men’s rugby and women’s softball will also maintain varsity status.
“Mohawk College Athletics has renewed its commitment to nurturing high performance in all aspects of its programs, promoting the pursuit of excellence for our student-athletes in their athletic, academic and personal lives,” said Matt Ferreira, Director of Athletics and Recreation at Mohawk.
“We will continue to support an active and diverse number of sports at the recreational level and will focus our efforts at the varsity level on programs that have demonstrated recent success and that we feel can be sustainable in the pursuit of a high-performance varsity portfolio.”
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According to the college, the decision will impact 23 of the 210 student-athletes who participated prior to COVID-19 restrictions and cancellations. It was noted that indoor soccer served largely as an extension of the outdoor soccer program, with nearly identical team rosters.
“By narrowing the focus of our efforts on fewer varsity programs, we will have the opportunity to increase the resources and support we can provide for Mountaineer teams and for our student-athletes,” added Ferreira. “We are grateful to have the support of college leadership in this process.”
None of the student-athletes affected were recruited to Mohawk College to compete in the cancelled sports programs, according to Mohawk.
“The Mohawk Athletic Department will continue to review both its varsity and recreational programs, based on a series of benchmarks,” concluded an official media release sent by Mohawk College.
“Varsity teams will be assessed on the competitive success of teams, on the academic success of student-athletes, recruitment and student retention, and leadership development. Recreation programs will be evaluated on participation levels, variety of offerings and accessibility of programs.”
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