The Skidmore Polo Saga

The Skidmore Polo Club has had a rough year... find out why.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Skidmore
• College
• Polo
• Club

[TomatoCrab]

I MISS FLEURIA!

love,

Ben

[emmajo333]

haha i bought cotton the white horse in the middle of the video a few years ago

[gwbowie]

cute vid! hope to make alumni game this year!

-former skiddie polo player

[SavaryNative]

Thanks for the info. I enjoyed reading it, and good luck on the fund raising. I wish I had taken part in some horse riding or polo team playing while I was there.

[SavaryNative]

try looking on facebook retard. I did go there for one semester, and it sucked, even though after I left I kind of missed and liked the kids there.

[kathmcconks]

Seeing as the schcool still has a varsity hockey team, they figured something out. Like I said, it isn't the amount of money that is the problem (lord knows the school makes a lot).. it is how/where it is spent.

As for polo, we are hoping the $27,000 allotment will help us stay afloat as well. We are working hard to raise more money, and I am keeping on top of our finances and making sure we are spending wisely. To this day, we've been able to cut our debt down to $15,000.

[kathmcconks]

Skidmore itself has a lot of money.. it is just how they choose to spend it. It became clear this year however, that if you show you have a real reason to recieve more money.. the college is glad to provide it. As for the hockey team, that was a budgeting issue. The Athletics Department is given a budget just like SGA/Leadership Activities. The year they wanted to cut the hockey team, they didn't think they had enough money in the budget to keep it afloat (as a Varsity sport).

[kathmcconks]

Because such a large debt had been incurred (20,000) SGA and Leadership Activities threatened to cut the club at the beginning of the year. However, this years administration (including myself as the new treasurer) had many meetings with SGA, and convinced them to keep us going. We set up a Loan Agreement with SGA, that states we will pay $3,000 to $5,000 each year towards our debt. Allong with that, I was able to get SGA to allot us $27,000 for this upcoming school year, instead of $18,500.

[kathmcconks]

They did not keep track of funds, or ask SGA for a supplemental budget (extra money). Thus, each year the team was spending more than it was making and getting from SGA... so the debt kept piling up (the debt which we owe to SGA & Leadership Activities, who provides the money). The club was not aware of the debt until the beginning of the 06 07 school year.

[kathmcconks]

Unfortunatley, SGA has only been able to allot us $18,500 each year. 10 years ago, that would have been enough (combined with the $30,000 or so the club raises) to keep the club afloat. However, because of increased costs of board, hay, and more vet visits as our ponies get older.. it is no longer enough. This problem was exacerbated during the past 3 years, when the elected club treasurers failed to do thier jobs properly.