Bridgewater Review

Volume 23 | Issue 1 Article 5

Jun-2004 Teaching and Learning in Cold Places: Ice Hockey at Bridgewater State College Andrew C. Holman Bridgewater State College, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Holman, Andrew C. (2004). Teaching and Learning in Cold Places: Ice Hockey at Bridgewater State College. Bridgewater Review, 23(1), 3-6. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol23/iss1/5

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Teaching and Learning in Cold Places Ice Hockey at Bridgewater State College by Andrew C. Holman

In the splendor of their royal blue, gold and white uni- participating in intercollegiate sport. Importantly, club forms, the fourteen members of the Connecticut sport also offers them an alternative site to engage in College team took the ice at Bridgewater Ice Arena in the real work of the university: teaching and learning. January 2004 to play a Northeast Collegiate Hockey I have been a part of this culture for the past six years as Association (NECHA) game against the local the coach of the Bridgewater State College Hockey Bridgewater State side. Their uniforms were taken from Club. It has been the best six years of my life. It has the design of the Charlestown Chiefs, the notorious fic- been so because coaching has taught me much more tionalized minor-pro hockey team in the classic movie about sport than playing ever did; because administer- “Slapshot,” the best parody of hockey culture ever pro- ing and fundraising for a fledgling (and often losing) duced. The humor of the likeness was not lost on the team has challenged my resolve and pushed me out into Bridgewater fans or players; happily, that was as far as parts of the community I would never have gone. And it the likeness went (there were no Hanson Brothers on has taught me more about teaching and learning than the Connecticut College team, and none dared to assert hours of lecture preparation, grading, pedagogical work- fistic prowess). But as interesting as were the team’s col- shops and seminar discussions ever could. ors was the word emblazoned on the uniforms’ crested front: “CLUB.” One word. That was all they needed to Today, college athletics in America faces difficult chal- identify themselves to the world. One word said it all. lenges, but to make that assertion is hardly to make a novel point. It is hard to argue with those commenta- In U.S. college athletics, this one word evokes a variety tors and critics who since the 1930s have lamented the of images and responses. Though they have been a part decline of the old gentlemanly ethic of university athlet- of campus life for almost as long as there have been ics. Before Red Grange’s defection to the money of the American colleges, club sports are alternatively tolerat- Chicago Bears (and all of those since who have “left ed and ignored, celebrated and denigrated. “Club sports” early”), before the push to recruit all-everything track is an omnibus term for a wide range of activity: from athletes from Africa and hockey players from Canada, ultimate frisbee, the martial arts and cheerleading to before the flood of commercial sponsorship, television competitive team and individual sports. Club sports hype, and the branding of sport, before Bobby Knight’s house athletic activities that are superbly administered tantrums and recruiting “favors” at the University of in some places and poorly run in others, but they do Colorado—in other words, before the push to win at all hold one attribute in common. Club sports are poor sib- costs and cash in—collegiate sport meant something lings to varsity athletics, the place where students and different. College athletics in the age of Princeton great alumni across America see their identities with their Hobey Baker (1911-14), John Davies tells us, “was ama- institutions represented in bold and stark tones. “Bowl teur in the pure sense of playing the game pour le sport.” Week,” “March Madness,” and the “Frozen Four” bring “Our primary concern” NCAA rules committee chair- out this sort of filiopietistic pride in clear and unsubtle man Louis Keller reminded his audience in 1952, “is in a ways. Alternatively, club sports operate under the radar. game that conforms to educational ideals and promotes Most club athletes, volunteers and coaches are resigned such attributes as sportsmanship, cooperation, respect to the fact they must make do with less: low budgets, for authority and the like.” Since those days, university poor practice times, and limited schedules. All of this is athletics has been lamentably permeated by the worst bearable, of course, because it is balanced by an impor- features of professional sport: greed, unwarranted adu- tant reality: any chance to play is better than no chance lation, violence, and cheating. The spotlight creates at all. Athletic departments that stretch their resources monsters, and perhaps because the spotlight rarely to offer club sports expand opportunities for grateful shines on club athletes, the train of abuses is commend- students to experience the pure joy that comes with ably absent. I am convinced that club sport continues a grand tradition and reflects the original intentions for

BRIDGEWATER REVIEW JUNE 2004 3 TEACHING AND LEARNING IN COLD PLACES ANDREW C. HOLMAN I assentedquickly easily done.Whenthe6'2"Richloomedinmydoor by theCollege.Accomplishing thefirstofthesewas neglected todowasrecr tices, andevenboughtunifor students intoahockey group,booked gamesandprac- management majorGregRichorganizedtwenty-five grassroots studentinterest.InSeptember1998, universities, outofthepurestmotives— clubs begininAmericancollegesand College beganasmostsports Bridgewater State The Hockey Clubat tenants. among theremaining Club athletesare twentieth century. built intheearly Amos AlonzoStagg Winsor andChicago’s Har the housethat athletics haveleft colleges, varsity the nation’slargest and universities.At in America’scolleges athletic competition amicably resolved.Initiallyaself ing thecollege’sapprovalwasmorechallenging,but of yearandthefactthatbudgetshadbeensettled,gain regretted bothofthesefactsrepeatedly).Giventhetime commitment andwithoutconsultingmywife(Ihave the AmericanCollegiateHockey Association,aclub the HolyCross,andSpringfield College.Theybelongto as MIT, theU.S.CoastGuard Academy, WPI,Collegeof league thatincludesrepresentatives fromsuchschools dent athleteshavecompetedinNECHA,atwelve-team careers athighschool.For thepastfiveyears,thesestu- they didnotwanttoendtheircompetitivesports that but theyareableathleteswhohavedetermined skatersarenotprofessionalprospects, Bridgewater’s for theirschoolandrepresenteditinameritoriousway For sixyears,Bridgewaterstudentshaveplayedhockey their school.” by onesimpleanswer:“Becausetheywanttoplayfor credit andaftersomediscussion,sheseemedconvinced off-campus group?”onevicepresidentasked. To her can’ttheyjustplayasan independent, presence. “Why a passingfancyandhadpotentialforperennial to convincecollegeofficersthatthisclubwouldn’tbe funding theclubwasn’tanissue;biggertaskwas vard’s Ralph , withoutknowingthedepthofmy uit acoachandgainrecognition ms. Whattheyhad -fi nanced body , way - . presence ofthehock path;the members thattheyaretreadingawell-worn ey clubhavebeentheB er tradition.Amongthebiggestsupportersofhock also rewardedbythefeelingthattheyarepartofalarg participating incompetitivehock small ways,butespeciallyinthethrilltheyattachto commitment andrepresentationoftheCollegeinonly athletic event.Theseathletesarerewardedfortheir courage, poise, confidence, trust intheirteammatesand courage, poise,confidence,trust els oforganization.A play atBridgewaterState,andthemanydifferentlev- Teaching happensonallofthefields andlearning the listisinstructive. recr including varsityathletes.At theriskofmimickinga sorts ofthingsasanyoneengagedincompetitivesport, fromtheirsportingexperienceathletes learn thesame some fairlytenableconclusions.Inonerespect,club gle theirschedules,andtreatoneanother—Icandraw themselves,jug- student athletes—thewaystheycarry exercise, todetailthis.ButIthinkfromwatchingmy inthis presumptuous forme,oneofthe“instructors” fromtheirexperience?State Collegeactuallylearn Itis So whatisitthenthathockey playersatBridgewater college hasnotforgottenthem. ey alumnithatevenafterthevarsityteam’sdemise, the “F There isaninterestingreciprocityhere:thepresenceof for theCollegewhenitwasavarsitysport,1970-80. uiting spiel,I’llbebrief. Eveninabridgedversion, riends ofB organization thatshadowstheNCAA and,like it, sponsorsanannualnationalchampionship their end-of-the-week celebrationswithan their end-of-the-week tournament. Theclub’stwenty-gametournament. schedule involvesroadtraveltosuchlocales as L Albany NY. With thrice-weeklypractices yndonville VT, NewBritainCT, and SC Hock more studentsinterestedinprefixing ey club,Ithink,remindsB thletes atBridgewaterStatelearn tilt willbringoutahundredor SC alumniwhoplayedhock ey” informs the current team thecurrent informs ey” ally aThursdaynighthome that commenceat10:00 attend, thoughoccasion- PM ey , theclubisnotfor the marginallydedi- . Arguably family andfriends cated sportsman. A other than t home games, few spectators , theyare SC hock ey - - - trust in their own abilities. They learn to set goals and Club athletes also learn lessons about the world out plans with which to achieve them, and they learn about there and the labels we regularly generate for others. price that is paid for not following plans. They learn the Insularity is an unfortunate characteristic among most merits of versatility and flexibility; of independent of our students and getting them out of southeastern thinking and action; of changing aims and methods in Massachusetts makes this plain. The hockey club puts mid- stream. They learn how to fit individual talents, students “out there” as representatives of the college tasks and tactics into a master strate- gy. They learn the benefit of sheer shoulder-to-the-grindstone hard work —and more. If these outcomes sound familiar to my fellow instructors at BSC, it is because they know them well. These are some of the most important attributes that we seek to instill in all of our students. They are the attributes that we detail in our own individual course outlines and they are the ones in which we strive to demonstrate achievement to our state and national accreditation bod- ies. Sport is no academic discipline, to be sure, but it can be a useful tool for the sorts of lessons we want to teach. But if organized and administered well, club sports can extend the list of teachable values. These are many, but all of them are connected to identity: who students think they are, and how others see them. Club athletes at Bridgewater State learn humility, the Coach Holman and Club Founder Greg Rich. sort of humility that comes not only with losing sea- sons and goals unachieved, but the humility of being a and its broader reputation, unprepared for a sometimes member of a team that is “just Club.” It is a phrase that hostile environment. These students are, after all, gets repeated often, by varsity athletes, by opponents, emblems of what U.S. News and World Report calls a by referees and by fellow students. Are you “just Club?” fourth-tier regional service institution. When the club or “still club?”: it reflects the wider notion that club ath- plays in Burrillville RI against Bryant College, chants of letes mean less and it reflects an expectation that some “safety school” routinely fill the air. A few years ago day—perhaps soon and if the team does exceptionally when we traveled to Hanover NH to play Dartmouth well—they will be able to escape that purgatory and College, Bridgewater players were incredulous that they join the ranks of the officially sanctioned, NCAA- were taunted as “trailer trash.” Class matters, even on anointed. But if by humility we mean the willingness to the rink, and what amazes me is the transformation recognize one’s status, own it and then make it better, that takes place among students when they realize this then humility is certainly something we should be fact. Some players who as freshmen and sophomores teaching our students. Connected to this is pride. Club looked forward to facing off against the “smart kids” athletes are pushed to be proud of things of which oth- from Harvard and MIT, UNH and Bates, begin by their ers might not be. They are proud of their counter cul- junior and senior years to see them instead as “privi- ture; proud to be part of an entity that is sometimes leged.” And when officiating favors the private schools seen as tangential to the school’s formal athletic mis- we play over us, it is hard for students to attribute that sion. And they are intensely proud of each other. systemic pattern to any factor other than class. These are necessary lessons, but they are painful ones. My pedagogical challenge is to encourage these students to

BRIDGEWATER REVIEW JUNE 2004 5

TEACHING AND LEARNING IN COLD PLACES ANDREW C. HOLMAN Teaching onice. dously richwithmeaning. seys oftheConnecticutCollegehockey team,istremen- four is aclub;“justclub”tosome.Butmethatsimple take place.TheBridgewaterStateCollegehockey team rinks, wherethatmission—teachingandlear sites, onandoff-campus, inclassroomsandoncoldice for meabeliefthatthereareandmustbevarietyof ubiquitous isthemissionofcollegeanditconfi Club sportshaveprovidedmeaperspectiveonhow showed thatheunderstoodimmediatelywhatImeant. statement tomyAthletic Director, whoseresponse Imadethesame fortable pause.Notlongafterwards, quizzical “Oh yeah?,”aponderous look,andanuncom- academic officerattheCollege,whoseresponsewasa unguarded candor, Ioncemadethis statementtoan important thingthatIdohere.Inamomentof at BridgewaterStateCollege,butitmaybethemost Club hock cold places. bring. Andthatiswhywecontinuetogothose with theprecisionorgravitythattheseon-icelessons never teachabouttherealityofsocialclassinAmerica ment orpettiness.Inmyhistor recognize classandtoresistrespondingwithresent -letter word,thesameoneemblazonedonjer —Andrew C.HolmanisAssociateProfessor ofHistory ey ishardlythemostimportantthingwedo and afor y classroom,Icould mer varsityathlete. ning—can r - ms -