By Tyler Harper
Sports Editor
Let it burn. That’s the message sent to Sports and Rec from President Sheldon Levy.
Missing not so conspicuously from the Levy’s Master Plan is any future nod to Sports and Rec. No new facilities, no renovations to the gyms and no extra team space.
Levy has been content to pay lip service to Sports and Rec with vague promises of a fantastical, all encompassing athletic facility. I’ve heard him promise it twice now in a month, but when the hammer came down in the form of the official Master Plan designs, the only place for our hockey teams to practise was Lake Devo.
So let’s call a spade a spade: Ryerson isn’t serious about developing an athletic program. Levy will wear a Stingers jersey to appease the sycophants but he’s perfectly content to let Sports and Rec sit $14,000 in debt because he knows any serious athletic plan needs serious commitment from administration.
And that’s a shame because our athletes and the people who work in Sports and Rec deserve a hell of a lot better than they are receiving. This year was a turning point for nearly every Rams squad. The women’s soccer team continues to develop into a dangerous contender while the men’s team showed tremendous heart in making the playoffs. Women’s basketball shocked everyone by making a hard push into the playoffs, and men’s volleyball silenced a Guelph home crowd to make it into the OUA semifinals.
Under Graham Wise, men’s hockey are well on their way to respectability and of course there’s no forgetting the Stingers, a team of volunteer players who are so spectacular they may very well bring Ryerson an OUA championship two years from now.
Levy needs to restore some confidence in Sports and Rec by, at the very least, letting them know how plans are proceeding for a new facility, if there are any plans at all. This is an athletic program that could be truly great. Don’t forget the Rams, Sheldo.
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