The initiative for Competitive Sports Program’s purpose is to augment the student experience and align with university strategic priorities. The focus has been on new student programming to help provide value-added experiences with outcomes related to student recruitment and aid in retention. Out of eight potential competitive sport programs and consideration of current facilities and state, regional, and national competitions, a decision was made to initially pursue synchronized swimming and stunt. These two programs were selected based on facility requirements and interest from Texas high school students.

In assessing priorities with new competitive sport programs, best practices were analyzed and reviewed (Lindenwood and Grand Valley State) to determine:

• Final team selection, team enrollment projections, budgets, and recruitment plans that will ensure sustainability of the programs
• Developing hiring and implementation planning (e.g. staff to support)
• Approval processes with review and approval by TWU’s Board of Regents

The goals of this initiative for the 2019-20 academic year include:

• Ensure the new Competitive Sport program proposals can begin enrollment in fall 2020 and will complement the many strong academic programs offered at TWU
• Finalize program selection and operating approach
• Conduct a comprehensive facility needs assessment
• Explore alternatives for conference support for each respective team
• Determine appropriate staffing

 We look forward to new sports programs acting as a catalyst to drive tuition revenue and increase enrollment of students who would not typically attend TWU and seeing the new programs develop and grow enrollment. 

For more information, contact initiative champions Monica Mendez-Grant and Beth Palmer.

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Written by the Strategic Plan Design Team