[media-credit id=2200 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]The Hamden Braves Baseball Club, started by Brenden Cavaco and Christian Cooper, is hoping to make an appearance and flourish within the Quinnipiac community.

Cavaco held a meeting during this past fall semester to scout potential players while also fielding input from other students.

“There are a good amount of kids interested in having a club baseball team,” Cavaco said. “Kids always come up to me when I’m on campus and ask me if I’m starting it up.”

An estimated 30 interested students are looking for a spot on the team, according to Cavaco.

Cavaco and Cooper’s club team will also be reaching out to other club baseball teams in the area for competition and support. The Braves Baseball club also has jersey designs which will be revealed as the team builds further.

Club sports are a completely different and independent entity from the university, meaning a club must provide its own transportation, funding, and equipment.

The Braves Baseball club does not have any funding, but Cavaco is currently looking for sponsors.

It often takes time and hard work to establish a reputation on campus, according to past experiences from other club sports. Quinnipiac has no formal process of creating a club sports team, as they do not formally recognize such teams.

Brandon Vattima, a Student Government Association (SGA) junior class representative, is very proud and supportive of Cavaco and Cooper’s efforts to start a club baseball team. Vattima recently finished a 12 page club sports proposal.

He explained that it is a lengthy process for approval.

“It needs to go through different level peers before it can actually be discussed by the presidential cabinet at the meeting,” Vattima said.

Vattima does not think that the approval process will be completed by the end of the spring semester.

“Quinnipiac is in good hands, however, based on all the information I’ve been able to accrue from different schools, this is probably the best proposal I could put forth at this time,” Vattima said.

However, within his proposal, Vattima said it features a “student outreach program.” This program will introduce club sports to a philanthropic quality, according to Vattima.

Quinnipiac’s decision to not acknowledge club sports on campus is not common practice with other colleges. Several universities including Drew University have a form that a student must fill out in order to create a club team. In addition, the student who is interested in starting the club team must have a preliminary meeting with the a university official, according to Drew.edu.

Vattima, who is also the president of the Brave Hockey club, claims the number one challenge facing club sports is a combination of field space and liability. This liability challenge would be quashed if they were recognized by the unversity.

“I know just from my team alone a lot of freshmen and sophomores in particular get backlash for having their equipment around the residence halls,” Vattima said.

If you are passionate about a sport or something, Quinnipiac isn’t going to give you the tools to do it. You have to make it happen, according to Vattima.

“It’s nice to walk around campus and seeing everybody wearing the Indian head [Brave Hockey club logo] on a hoodie or hat and people asking us when our next game is,” Vattima said. “It’s just nice to know that people are on our side and the Braves are able to make some noise around this campus.”

The Hamden Braves Baseball Club will feature a field in Cheshire. Cavaco plans for the team to work closely and coordinate efforts with the Cheshire Parks and Recreation department in order to gain access to their field. The baseball club is not allowed to access campus utilities such as the Bobcats’ own baseball field.