"It's a Way of Life." Soccer Player Responds to Cut

As has been widely publicized across campus in the past few days, the men's soccer and track and field programs were terminated as intercollegiate sports at the university.

Being a sophomore member of the men's soccer team, I have gotten a firsthand look at the student-athlete reaction to this situation. I want to attempt to share what kind of different emotions and decisions each class is dealing with at this point in our lives.

The freshmen, who have just begun their journey here at Richmond, are suddenly forced to start considering transferring to a different school. And not because they don't love it here so far, or because they think they are better off somewhere else, but simply because something they love was taken away from them, through absolutely no fault of their own.

"The fact that I fell in love with the university outside of soccer is what makes this situation so unbearable," said freshman midfielder Mitch Reavis. "I chose this university because I couldn't imagine myself at any other institution or wearing any other colors than UR red and UR blue on the field."

All summer, Reavis was preparing to go play for coach Clint Peay, a former national champion and All-American at the University of Virginia. On July 26, Peay resigned in an email to the team, leaving Reavis without the coach who recruited him and someone whom he had felt comfortable with.

Now, this. A second huge blow for the freshman, just two months apart. Reavis expressed his emotions in a Tweet just a few hours after being told the soccer program was being cut, "Quite easily the hardest day I've ever been through."

Seeing tears and confusion in the eyes of teammates that I have personally taken an interest in mentoring really hit home for me. No freshman deserves to deal with this much adversity this early on in his college experience.

"I have given everything to be a Division I athlete in this sport, and so has my family," Reavis said. "Soccer is not just part of what I do, it's who I am."

In talking with my fellow sophomore classmates on the team, the general opinion is that we love it here at Richmond and we don't want to leave, but we owe it to ourselves to weigh our options.

"The thought of not playing soccer here at Richmond is an idea I can not even wrap my head around," sophomore Sean Baker said. "One of the most difficult parts this is that my best friends here [my teammates] are considering, and probably will be transferring to other schools."

We have established relationships and have settled in to making this university our home. This decision came as a complete shock.

For Richmond native Timmy Albright, a sophomore forward for the men's soccer team, Spider soccer is all he knows. Albright's father, Peter, is in his eighteenth season as coach of the women's soccer team here. Albright attended his first men's soccer game when he was just four years old.

"I can't imagine being anywhere else and playing on any other field," Albright said.

Albright couldn't attend the meeting where we were informed of the termination of our program. I told him the news myself in the parking lot. I saw the look on his face. It went blank -- he had no idea that he was getting this kind of news. His head went down, and I think I may have heard his heart drop.

It's something I can't get out of my head. You never want to see a teammate, and more importantly, a friend, feel that kind of pain. Someone you've been to battle with. We had been through adversity together before, but never like this. Never this painful.

My junior teammates have fewer options than the underclassmen. It doesn't make much sense for them to consider transferring to play at a different school. They would have to start all over at a new school, at which they would only spend one year.

"By transferring now we would have to completely create ourselves anew at a different university," junior midfielder Brandon Hauser said. "However, I have considered it. It seems worth it to be able to play one more year of the sport I love."

Since the day I joined this team I've seen this junior class put their blood, sweat, and tears into turning this program around. Literally, they have.

"We want to look back on this fifty years from now and have no regrets," said Hauser. "All we can do for the remainder of the season is give our best and prove our worth."

For me personally, the question I've been asked the most is, "Are you going to transfer?" Every time I've been asked this question, the first thought that runs through my mind is that I don't want to. Like all of my teammates, I love this school and I couldn't see myself anywhere else.

At the same time, soccer has been a major part of my life for longer than I can remember, and playing Division I soccer was a dream of mine. A dream that I worked to achieve. A dream that became a reality. And it doesn't seem like it now, but my dream has been taken away.

Soccer keeps me balanced and keeps me sane.

My life would truly be altered without soccer. I've continued to wonder if the people who made this decision [to eliminate the sport] took this into consideration. The lives of the 18 to 22-year-olds that they were changing.

People say it's just a game.

But the truth is, for us, it's not a game. It's a way of life and it's what we love. It's what we've always loved and we're being told we can't play it anymore at a place we love. That's how we feel.

I speak for the entire men's soccer team when I say we can't thank the Richmond community enough for the unwavering support we have received throughout this past week.

Have no doubt, we will continue to play as hard as we can, for as long as we're allowed to do so.