Varsity Sports at Dartmouth
What are the Varsity Sports at Dartmouth? Dartmouth College is the ninth-oldest university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. It is also well regarded as a haven for exceptionally driven student-athletes. Dartmouth University provides students with access to 35 different varsity sports, including 16 for men, 18 for women, and sailing for both men and women. In addition, there are 35 club sports and 24 intramural sports to choose from at Dartmouth, and around 75 percent of the undergraduate students are involved in some sort of physical activity.
The varsity athletic teams at Dartmouth, also known as “The Big Green,” participate in NCAA Division I and are members of the Ivy League, which consists of eight schools. Over the course of its history, Dartmouth has produced athletes who have excelled at the most difficult levels of competition, winning NCAA championships in a wide variety of sports, including track and field, basketball, cross country, and soccer, as well as skiing, hockey, lacrosse, baseball, and tennis.
The Athletic Department which handles the different Varsity Sports at Dartmouth is dedicated to providing an outstanding array of athletic experiences that cater to the skills, interests, and requirements of a diverse group of persons. These opportunities can be found in both varsity and intramural sports. The range of programs and activities open to both men and women includes “drop-in” recreation, physical education, intramural and club sports, and a wide variety of intercollegiate athletic teams that compete at a competitive level.
The department makes it a point that Varsity Sports at Dartmouth is to follow the fundamental principles of the Ivy League at all times. These principles include ensuring that athletes are representative of the student body as a whole, providing financial aid based on need rather than athletic ability, limiting the number of seasons for each sport, and maintaining institutional autonomy in the management of athletic programs.
The overall academic and intellectual development of Dartmouth students are intended to be fostered and supplemented by the activities of the Athletic Department. These activities are designed to provide students with experiences that will enable them to interact in a unique way with other students, test the limits of their own personal capabilities, and benefit from the demands and realities of athletic competition, as well as the successes and failures that come along with it.
What are the different Varsity Sports at Dartmouth?
What are the different Varsity Sports at Dartmouth? The Dartmouth College Big Green is the sporting team, both varsity, and club, that represents Dartmouth College, which is an American university that can be found in Hanover, New Hampshire. The athletic programs at Dartmouth participate in both the Eastern Collegiate Athletic League (ECAC) Hockey Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. Dartmouth is a member of the Ivy League conference.
The College has 24 teams for intramural competition, 35 for varsity competition, and 17 for club competition. Seventy-five percent of the student body is involved in some kind of athletics, and the college’s sports teams are both deeply embedded in the ethos of the institution and provide a social outlet for its students.
Since the year 2000, Dartmouth has invested over $100 million in facility upgrades for the Varsity Sports at Dartmouth, including the Boss Tennis Center and Gordon Pavilion, Scully-Fahey Field (featuring FieldTurf), Blackman Football Practice Fields, McLane Skiway Lodge, and Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse; comprehensive renovations to Leverone Fieldhouse, Hanover Country Club, Berry Center squash courts, and Alumni Gymnasium (featuring a new 14,000-square-foot recreation center); and the construction of the
Men’s Varsity Sports at Dartmouth
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Cross Country
- Football
- Golf
- Ice Hockey
- Lacrosse
- Heavyweight Rowing
- Lightweight Rowing
- Sailing-Open
- Skiing
- Soccer
- Squash
- Swimming & Diving
- Tennis
- Track & Field
Women’s Varsity Sports at Dartmouth
- Basketball
- Cross Country
- Equestrian
- Field Hockey
- Golf
- Ice Hockey
- Lacrosse
- Rowing
- Rugby 15s & 7s
- Sailing- Open & Women’s
- Skiing
- Soccer
- Softball
- Squash
- Swimming & Diving
- Tennis
- Track & Field
Popular Varsity Sports at Dartmouth
What are the most popular Varsity Sports at Dartmouth? The Dartmouth Big Green is well-known throughout the world as a member of the famous Ivy League. Within this league, student-athletes compete against teams from some of the nation’s oldest schools. Dartmouth is a member of 35 Division I varsity teams. The most difficult level of competition offered by Dartmouth Athletics, the varsity level has produced a large number of Olympic athletes and a large number of professional players in a variety of sports over the years.
In the year 1866, the students of Dartmouth College decided to make a shade of forest green known as “Dartmouth Green” the official color of the school. The athletic teams at Dartmouth College began to be referred to by their unofficial nickname “the Indians” in the 1920s. This title, which most likely originated among sports journalists, remained in use until the 1960s.
This unofficial mascot and team name was utilized until the early 1970s when its use was criticized for being inappropriate. The Board of Trustees of the College issued a statement in 1974 stating that the “use of the [Indian] insignia in any form is incongruous with the institutional and academic objectives of the College in advancing Native American education.” There have been efforts made by former students and alumni, in addition to The Dartmouth Review, a more conservative student newspaper, to bring the Indian sign back into the public eye; nevertheless, no team has displayed the symbol on its uniform in several decades.
On the other hand, here are the most popular Varsity Sports at Dartmouth.
Baseball
Since the beginning of the 1993 campaign, the Dartmouth Big Green baseball team has been competing in the NCAA Division I Ivy League baseball league. This affiliation dates back to the beginning of the program’s history. Prior to that, the organization was a part of the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League (EIBL). Red Rolfe Field in Biondi Park, which is located on the campus of the university, serves as the venue for its home games. Since the beginning of the 1990 season, Bob Whalen has been serving as the head coach of the program.
A total of seven NCAA Tournaments and one College World Series have been participated in by the program. It has won the Eastern Independent Baseball League playoff tournament a total of twelve times, and it has competed in the Ivy League Baseball Championship Series eleven times, emerging victorious twice. There have been 30 previous members of the Big Green who have played in Major League Baseball.
Basketball
The men’s basketball program at Dartmouth University, known as the Big Green, is part of the NCAA Division I, and the team participates in the Ivy League. David McLaughlin is their head coach, and the Leede Arena is where they host all of their games at home.
Since the 1998–1999 season, when they finished with a record of 14–12, the Big Green has not had a record that is better than losing. Since 1959, they have not taken part in an NCAA Tournament, which is the longest active streak in between appearances and the second longest streak in the tournament’s history. They have only had 10 winning seasons since their previous tournament appearance, and they have only competed in any postseason tournament once, which was the 2015 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
On the other hand, the Dartmouth Big Green women’s basketball team is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and participates in the Ivy League (NCAA). The Leede Arena is located close to the school and is where the Big Green play their home basketball games. As of the conclusion of the 2015–16 season, the Big Green has compiled a record of 571–506, including an Ivy League record of 326–189. They have a record of 17 victories in the Ivy League (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009).
Rowing
Rowing is now the most popular sport at Dartmouth, with over 200 students engaging in the activity each year. Rowing was initially introduced to students at Dartmouth in the year 1833. John Biglin, a famed professional oarsman who was also the subject of numerous paintings by Thomas Eakins from that era, was Dartmouth’s first professional coach. Biglin was also the subject of many of Eakins’ paintings.
There are now three varsity rowing programs at Dartmouth Rowing Club: men’s heavyweight, men’s lightweight, and women’s open-weight. The men’s teams participate in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC), and the women’s team competes in the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges. Both associations are located in the Eastern United States (EAWRC).
All of the teams use the Friends of Dartmouth Rowing Boathouse, which is situated on the Connecticut River, to conduct their practices. The Connecticut River borders the western side of the campus. More than 40 miles (64 kilometers) of flat rowable water may be found on the river, and there is almost no powerboat or other traffic on the river; nevertheless, teams must contend with the river’s late winter thaw.
Other facilities include the varsity weight room, two erg rooms, rowing tanks, and two smaller boathouses. The comparatively modest athletic programs at Dartmouth have been successful at the championship level and have resulted in an unusually high number of Olympians and members of national teams.
The fall season is when teams prepare for and compete in long-distance ‘head races.’ As a result of the frozen river, winter training comprises strenuous workouts conducted indoors as well as cross-country skiing, which is considered by most people to be a blessing in disguise. The spring season is comprised of shorter, 2000-meter sprint races against competitors from conventional IVY leagues and the Northeastern United States.
The Eastern Sprints and the IRA regattas are the pinnacle events of the season for the men’s heavyweight and lightweight programs, respectively. After leaving the Women’s Sprints in 2011, the women’s team is now competing in the Ivy League in an effort to earn a spot in the women’s national championship tournament.
Football
The Dartmouth Big Green football team has an illustrious history that includes winning a national championship. They also hold the record for the most Ivy League Football Championships and have 11 players who have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Following Dartmouth’s official admission to the Ivy League in 1956, head coach Bob Blackman guided the 1962 squad to the program’s first unbeaten season since the 1925 squad that won the national championship.
In addition, Blackman coached Donald McKinnon, a member of the class of 1963, who became Blackman’s first All-American player. McKinnon was the anchor of Blackman’s formidable defense, which allowed only six points in its first five games.
In its infancy, the sport of football was already being played on university grounds as early as the year 1876. On the green, goalposts were set up, and they remained there for a few months before being taken down in preparation for the 1877 start of the competition. The first-ever game between the two colleges took place on November 17, 1881, and it was played between Amherst and Dartmouth. The final score was 1-0 in favor of the Green team. The teams played their rematch on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The game was scoreless when it was called off due to snow, and the score was tied at the time. During the years that followed, Dartmouth competed in a number of games against some of the greatest teams in the country. The first meeting between Dartmouth and Harvard took place in 1882, and Dartmouth was defeated by a score of 53 to 0. When Yale traveled to Dartmouth in 1884, they defeated the Green by a score of 113 to 0.
Because of the widespread COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, the Ivy League canceled all of its athletic competitions, including football. In a joint statement that was released in May of 2021, the league stated that “regular athletic competition” will begin “across all sports” in the fall of that same year.
Swimming
It is one of the oldest continuous collegiate swim programs in the United States because the men’s varsity swim team at Dartmouth College began in 1920, making it one of the oldest collegiate swim programs overall. The swimming team participates in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swim League, which is comprised of all eight colleges in the Ivy League as well as the United States Naval Academy. Midway through September marks the beginning of the season for the squad, which lasts all the way until late March, when the EISL Championships are held.
Throughout the course of the season, the team competes on a weekly basis against other EISL member teams in addition to a number of other New England collegiate teams. Both the team’s training and the meets that they host take place in the Karl Michael Competition Pool and the Spaulding Pool at the Dartmouth College Aquatic Facilities, which are both housed in Alumni Gymnasium.
The team has a lengthy history of success, not only inside the league but also nationwide. The decade of the 1930s saw the team’s rise to prominence within the league, as seen by its collection of many championship titles and its participation in the NCAA Championships via a number of swimmers and relay teams. In more recent times, its 200-meter freestyle relay team has been ranked in the top 50 in the country.
Because of the school’s ongoing financial difficulties and the need to make forced budgetary concessions, Dartmouth College had no choice but to disband its men’s and women’s swim teams in the year 2002. After a member of the swim team put the team up for auction on eBay in an effort to generate money for the team, the decision to cut the swim teams attracted global attention.
Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were brought back under the John C. Glover Fund for the Backing of Swimming and Diving following extensive lobbying efforts and financial support from alumni, current students, and other supporters. The fund was named after John C. Glover, an all-American swimmer for Dartmouth in the class of 1955, who died while training for the Olympics at Yale University in 1956.
Does Dartmouth Provide Athletic Scholarships?
Does Dartmouth Provide Athletic Scholarships? Grants and scholarships are forms of financial assistance for one’s education that do not need repayment. All of Dartmouth’s available Financial Aid is distributed on a need-based basis. We do not provide any financial assistance based on scholastic achievement, creative ability, athletic prowess, or any other criteria.
However, some Dartmouth students will be chosen to receive financial support from one or more of the more than 750 scholarship funds that are supported by endowments. These honors do not come with new financial support; rather, they signify that the assistance that has already been granted will be provided by a particular endowed fund. There is no need to submit a separate application.
If you have been given money from an outside source in the form of a scholarship (for any reason, such as academic, civic, or athletic achievement, for example), this money will assist you in lowering your own personal expenses.
You will have permission from Dartmouth to use these monies to replace or reduce the portions of your award that are related to student loans and employment. If your award contains an expectation that you would earn money during your leave period as part of your Student Contribution, then additional scholarships from outside sources can potentially replace that amount.
Want to learn more about getting into Varsity Sports at Dartmouth? You’ve come to the right place. At AdmissionSight, we have over 10 years of experience guiding students through the competitive admissions process, including our athletic recruitment program.
AdmissionSight can help you put your best foot forward when applying to college this fall. Contact us today for more information on our services.