Sonoma State University, located west of Sacramento, is eliminating their athletics program in the face of a $23 million budget deficit.
Final competitions will occur in the spring season for the Division II school. The cut will save $3.7 million for SSU, which has seen declining enrollment in recent years.
For Rio English teacher Jolynn Mason, who played volleyball for four years at Sonoma, it represented a disappointing decision.
“I am very sad about the cuts,” Mason said. “While I know that they had to come from somewhere, it makes me very sad for the students who chose to go to SSU for that very reason and who now have to move to another school or give up their passion. It makes me mad that money has been so mismanaged for so long that it eventually came to this, and it scares me it could open the door to it potentially happening elsewhere.”
She said the volleyball program at SSU gave her an immediate sense of belonging and that her coach’s lessons have greatly influenced her teaching.
Mason said sports have been “the single greatest teacher and motivator in my life.”
“The great thing about sports is that it doesn’t always go your way and you learn who you are going to be when that happens,” she said. “I learned to not back down if I was afraid of something, to have confidence, to accept defeat graciously.”
