CORRECTION

A story on Wednesday's front page about Wake Technical Community College's decision to begin fielding athletic teams for intercollegiate play incorrectly stated the start date for Guilford Technical Community College's baseball program. Guilford Tech's baseball team is playing this season.

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RALEIGH -- In a sports-mad region dominated by N.C. State, North Carolina and Duke, Wake Technical Community College hopes to carve a new niche by giving its commuter students their own teams to cheer.

The school's board of trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to jump into collegiate sports this fall with an athletics program. Aiming to compete against other community colleges and junior colleges in the Carolinas, the new program will field teams for women's volleyball, men's soccer and men's and women's golf next school year before adding basketball, softball and baseball the following term.

And incoming students will have to come up with an extra $10 each semester to pay for the privilege of rooting for the Wake Tech Eagles. To cover the estimated price tag of $176,576 needed to hire an athletic director and part-time coaches and pay liability insurance and other costs, the Wake Tech board approved a doubling of student fees from $10 to $20 each semester.

"Don't start comparing us to the big boys in town," Wake Tech President Stephen Scott said Tuesday. "There will be a lot of volunteers in this, and we'll be operating on a shoestring.

"But it's a chance for our students to be able to compete at a higher level ... and I think that it's a benefit to the whole community, because students need to see that these opportunities are available."

Wake Tech is the second-largest community college in the state and each fall enrolls about 12,000 full-time students, many who plan to transfer into four-year colleges and universities. Known previously as Holding Tech, Wake Tech fielded competitive teams in baseball, softball, basketball and other sports in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but it never had a formal athletics department.

Catching the wave

With Tuesday's move, the school joins a growing surge of community colleges who have begun competitive athletics programs. More than 40 junior and community colleges across the country have adopted new sports programs since 2003, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education; in North Carolina alone, Wake Tech will be one of 20 community colleges that offer competitive sports.

The rising popularity of competitive sports programs prompted the N.C. State Board of Community Colleges to form a study group last year and issue guidelines for sports teams. At the time of the study, only seven of the 19 community colleges in the state with sports programs offered scholarships as a recruiting inducement for prospective athletes. Although Wake Tech does not plan to actively recruit players from outside Wake County, the community college's foundation may fund an undetermined number of athletic scholarships in the future.

Recruiting has become more important to fielding competitive teams, said Phil Gaffney, athletic director for Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown. The school recently introduced women's volleyball and men's basketball teams, along with a cheerleading squad. It plans to add baseball and women's basketball next school year.

Gaffney said Guilford Tech recruits student-athletes primarily from Guilford County but lures some from elsewhere in the state. With little funding available, recruiting typically is limited to phone calls, e-mail and letters, with rare travel by coaches. Yet it's essential, Gaffney said.

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