By: Kaitlyn Bain
University of Lynchburg Men’s Club Soccer players. Photo by Damon Caporaso
Miscommunication in recruiting Argentinian soccer players at the University of Lynchburg has led to confusion about what was promised.
The players’ uncertainty lies in which team these international students were recruited for: the club team or the varsity team.
Carlos Turcios Erazo, a men’s club soccer player, said, “They have been complaining a little bit over how the person who recruited them and brought them to the team explained something and it turned out not to be the case.”
University of Lynchburg staff have been cautious about the promises made.
Jacob Price, the assistant director of campus recreation, said, “The international students [were] recruited just to play soccer,” although “club is lower on the totem pole.”
Price indicated that Lynchburg staff offered only club soccer as an option, not a spot on varsity soccer when the players were first recruited.
Price also said, “When someone will come in and ask ‘will I get the chance to join varsity,’ you have to have a hard conversation of it’s not happening tomorrow, it’s not happening next month, but if you keep training keep trying, we can try to get there as best we can.”
These students showed Price that there was confusion somewhere in the recruiting process.
“I’ve heard from different offices that there were different things told to them,” said the new men’s club soccer coach, Peter Kinney. “I don’t know definitively if what they were told is different than what has actually transpired.”
While Price is confident that the University was clear in its intentions when recruiting, Kinney is skeptical about the process and the promises made.To find out more about club sports, visit: https://www.imleagues.com/spa/network/15b43c114f5645188c097b31d2dec4c2/home
