Echoing the sentiments of current athletes at Sonoma State University, former Seawolf volleyball player Jolynn Mason was saddened and angered by the university’s announcement last week that it would eliminate its entire athletics program to help close a $24 million budget deficit.
Mason, a long-time English teacher at Rio Americano, played four years at Sonoma State in the early 1990s and has fond memories of her time on the team.
Final competitions will occur in the spring season for the Division II school. Sonoma State has 243 athletes competing on 11 teams; the cut will save $3.7 million. The Bay Area university, which has seen declining enrollment in recent years, announced it would also lay off dozens of professors and axe close to two dozen academic departments and majors.
“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 student athletes 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 with teammates who remain her friends and that her coach’s lessons have greatly influenced her teaching.
“I had a tremendous coach, Kelly Van Winden, who taught me so much about volleyball, yes, but also about being a tough woman who could conquer whatever fear I had,” Mason said. “She remains a huge influence on my life, and many of the lessons I try to pass on to my students are a direct reflection of her on my life.”
Although she had excellent professors and was a strong student, Mason credits sports as “the greatest teacher.”
“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.”
Current athletes, along with staff, alumni and other students in impacted programs, are also not backing down, as they have organized protests and filed lawsuits against the cuts.
Mason is not only concerned about sports as more schools face budget crises.
“Sports, music, and theatre programs provide so much for students yet are often the first ones cut,” she said. “I would argue that they teach us a lot more about the world and who we are, which is crucial in life, than what we will ever learn in a classroom setting.”
