Parting Thoughts from the Brains Behind Adelphi's Sports Clubs

Jennifer Schroeckenthaler Cairns (Photo by me)

Numerous factors are responsible for the success of not only Adelphi's badminton club, but each of its 11 club sports. First, each club must have enough interested students who are willing to put in the time and effort to attend practices, compete in tournaments and make the clubs successful. Secondly, a select group of students (collectively referred to as the executive or "e-board" of each club), are responsible for organizing their teams, managing practice and tournament schedules and keep the clubs running smoothly.

However, the success of Adelphi's sports clubs would not be possible without an advocate in administration speaking for them. Jennifer Schroeckenthaler Cairns, who has served at Adelphi for the past eight years, is that person. 

Well, Schroeckenthaler Cairns was that person. On Oct. 6, she will be leaving the Adelphi family to pursue a career change; she will be returning to school to earn her second master's degree in occupational therapy.

She first became involved in Adelphi's Campus Recreation department in 2005, when she joined the staff as a graduate assistant. She served in that capacity for two years, and was promoted to Assistant Director of Campus Recreation in 2007. In that position, her duties included administrating intramural sports, supervising a staff of students and graduate assistants, coordinating group fitness classes and managing club sports and special events. However, as the go-to person regarding Adelphi's sports clubs, she spearheaded the growth of the program over her tenure.

"When I first got here, the sport club program was probably half of what it is now," she explained. "There were probably only six or seven clubs, and now we have 11. It's really grown a lot in number and size."

Screenshot of the procedures for starting a new sport club,
available online and in the Campus Recreation office.

The badminton club team is one of the newest on campus, and Schroeckenthaler Cairns can easily recall when the club was established.

"I met with [current club president] Jenna [Cavuto] a few years ago," she said. "Before that, in the years I've been in this position, no one really approached me about starting a badminton club. We really didn't know what to expect."

However, in the three years that the badminton club team has been in existence at Adelphi, Schroeckenthaler Cairns and the entire Campus Recreation staff have been surprised by the success and rapid growth of the club.

"Badminton has really grown a lot. Unfortunately, we do only have one court that we can set up three nets on, so I would say that's the one negative thing. As far as the participation level, it's 40-50 members. That's really incredible for a new club."
  

In total, she added four new sport clubs and five new group fitness classes over her tenure at Adelphi. Schroeckenthaler Cairns' replacement, who has not yet been officially introduced, will no doubt have big shoes to fill.