College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Amber Kerns
Costas Panayiotides
Devon Matier
Heidi Bradley
Kazuhiro Watanabe
Shie Ping-Yu

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

“Getting a team established as official Sports Club here at the ARC appears to be relatively easy… however there is a right way and a wrong way to go about doing it. Most people fail. They try for a little while… but for one reason or another never get it right…”

--DeJuan Bedford, the SDSU Sport Clubs Advisor

MISSION STATEMENT:

To create a solid foundation for San Diego State Universities Coed Water Polo Sport Club to build upon for the years to come.

The recommendations that result from our careful intervention of creating San Diego State’s Coed Water Polo Sport Club are to implement the following procedures:

I. Maintain club status with the University.

II. Recruit new players at least three times during the semester.

III. Establish strong communication lines between all players, coaches, and officers.

IV. Ensure that all regular players are USWP certified.

BACKGROUND:

Many SDSU Students have a limited opportunity to participate in the Sport of Water Polo; this school has not seen non-NCAA Water Polo Sport Club in over 10 years. What's more is that the athletic department cannot afford to support a men's team that is largely attributed to title IX . Additionally, the current ‘NCAA sponsored Women’s’ team is known to be very exclusive. For instance approximately forty girls were cut during tryouts for the team this last fall; of those who tried out for the team nine were returning players, and two of those nine returning were expecting to maintain a scholarship status with this team. As a result of the above factors many individuals don't have the opportunity to continue a sport that they are passionate about.

Within the Water Polo world there was a gap that needed to be filled here at SDSU; it is shocking to several that only an ‘A’ squad of 18 players represents our school, and does not promote the men’s side at all. Southern California is commonly known as the headquarters of Water Polo here in America; typically the best players, competitions, teams, leagues, and skill level can be found here.

ETHICAL REASONING:

The above factors for a feasible “Sport Club” equation are backed with these ethical justifications:

I. After turning in the team’s application for on-campus status, this team entered a Social Contract with the university. They were no longer an autonomous club, the club then operated under the rules and regulations of the University thereof. Heidi also made this decision based on Ethic of Care, because she cared about the teams’ future and hoped to see it continue after her time with the club.

II. The Greatest Good for the team is to hold numerous recruiting sessions throughout each semester. With out incoming players, and their monthly dues the team cannot continue to operate on a future basis.

III. Based on Libertarian perspective, each team member should have access to as much information about the team as possible; therefore it is crucial that strong communication lines are established.

IV. Adhering to one of the teams main Trustees United States Water Polo USWP, all practicing players must be insured through USWP in order to play, practice, or compete.

SEMESTER OVERVIEW:

We entered, and offered many social contracts between ourselves, the team, its coaches, the University, as well as USWP during this semester. We decided that if we set reasonable ethical standards for our group to hold fast to then our actions would also flow in a just manner to our stakeholders. The contracts that we made with the team for the most part worked closely using Libertarian ethics, because we had a direct connection with the club the important decisions were made only after the majority of the Club’s members agreed to them.

When we started this project we held fast to Economic Utilitarian principles, we believed that the only way to succeed in this project would be to generate enough money for this team to operate for six months. Holding such a narrow focus on what the teams needs are, limited our ability to help this team get onto solid ground steadfastly.

Additionally, Heidi the Water Polo Team manager, who also held the MGT delegation position, used Ethic of Care in certain decision-making processes. When she knew that even though “the greater good ” would result if the team took a hit to pay for the Beer festival before the festival, her teammates could barely afford the cost of practicing let alone a fundraiser that might not work out.

Shortly after Spring Break we realized the potential failure of our Beer Festival idea, immediately afterwards we implemented three Deontological and Libertarian based actions. We questioned where the team needed special assistance then acted on it: we recruited new players for the team, we held a recruiting Banquet, we registered the team for Summer Leagues, and we found an Advisor for the Sport Club. As a sport club it is their duty to ensure that all participating athletes and coaches are USWP certified

ASSESSMENT:

During this project our team suffered many failures; we did not achieve our first goal of finding corporate sponsorships, we were also unable to achieve our second goal to host an On-Campus Beer festival, mid-Semester half of the players dropped the team entirely, and the team is not yet an official On-Campus Organization. We learned from each one of these mishaps, as each one came up we collaborated with the team to find alternative solutions; this is why we ultimately feel that this project was a success.

This semester we did establish a solid base for the team to build upon: 1- The team received a pending ‘On-Campus’ status, that allow the team to market themselves in order to recruit new players. 2- Each recruiting session resulted in a higher than normal attrition rate ; the first recruiting sessions attrition rate was 30% , the second recruiting sessions rate was also good but dropped to 25% . 3- Practices are still being held. 4- The team is anticipating to hold an official ‘On-Campus’ this summer. 5- This team is registered to play in two Summer Leagues. 6- A constitution is set for the future officers of this team to follow. 7- Our MGT team maintained operated using strong ethical principles. In the majority of our decision making process’ we adhered to all of the teams Stakeholders.