Nears 25% minimum number of students from Yavapai County on Community College athletic teams, which was goal set in February 2021
Yavapai Community College’s Women’s Soccer Team roster for 2021 has been announced. This will be the first season for this soccer team.
The roster is composed of 20% of its players coming from Yavapai County, which is nearing the 25% figure the Administration has set as a minimum goal in its recruiting efforts for its various athletic teams. At the February 2021 Board meeting where this issue was last discussed, Athletic Director Brad Clifford reported to the Board that in 2020-2021, only five of the student athletes in total were from Yavapai County. At the time, the Community College had baseball, softball, men’s soccer, and volleyball programs.
Only 15% of the players on the 2021 Women’s Soccer team are from out-state with the remaining 65% coming from counties outside Yavapai but living in the state of Arizona.
The issue of the lack of Yavapai County athletes on the taxpayer supported Community College teams has been a regular question raised by Third District Governing Board representative Mr. Paul Chevalier, who has urged a change in the policy. One explanation given by Mr. Clifford in February to the College Governing Board for the low number of County students in the athletic program was that “the best student-athletes in Yavapai County want to leave the County to pursue their athletic endeavors.” He did not discuss whether lowering recruiting standards slightly might generate more athletes from the County.
Mr. Clifford also said that “the [athletic] department’s policy is to recruit within the County first.” However, “due to sheer numbers,” he said, “most recruiting is done outside of Yavapai County.
At the April 2021 Governing Board meeting, the Community College Administration publicly revealed that it was in a difficult position because of a “high risk” of a potential civil rights violation. The reason for this, as explained to the Governing Board, was that the College had failed to comply with federal law, specifically Title IX. It was also explained that this was one of the first issues addressed by Dr. Lisa Rhine, the Community College President, following her hiring.
Yavapai Community College Vice President of Community Relations and Student Development, Dr. Rodney Jenkins, told the Governing Board at the April meeting that “to be out of compliance with Title IX and know it, is a dangerous line to walk. We are now very close to being in compliance once we field this [women’s soccer] team and add a couple other components. [Then] “we will be within the 54th percentile range, where we should be” with federal civil rights law.
