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Bard College
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Bard College - Athletics - Athletics - College ProwlerCollege Prowler1.54

Athletics

D+
Where does this grade come from?View all Athletics rankingsReview this school to add your opinion

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Quick Stats

Athletic Association
  • NAA
  • NCAA
Athletic Division NCAA Division III (without football)
Athletic Conferences Football: N/A
Basketball: Skyline Conference
School Colors Red, white, and black
School Nickname Raptor
Men Playing Varsity Sports 80 - 10%
Women Playing Varsity Sports 94 - 9%

Student Author OverviewWhat's This?

When you take into account that the majority of students here couldn’t catch a gently-lobbed softball, it’s not surprising that the college suffers from a lacking sports scene. Most Bardians thus opt toward more academic and less physically rigorous pursuits. However, athletics do hold a tenuous place on campus, and a solid number of enthusiasts continue to participate in sports like soccer, basketball, and rugby. While the spectator turnout for these games usually borders on negligible, students occasionally show up to watch Bard take on alleged rivals like Vassar and Columbia. Bard spectators are known to wander by the soccer fields on a Thursday night, bringing with them a haze of tobacco smoke, and heckle their own team with intellectualized—though slurred—witticisms. A Bard athlete is often someone who played varsity sports in high school, but who wants to major in painting or philosophy. These are not your average jocks—student-athletes are among the eclectic, multi-talented Bard student body. Other students choose to exercise their bodies by challenging themselves to reach new heights of un-athleticism.

Intramural sports seem to be more popular at Bard. Non-league indoor soccer continues to enjoy a moderate following, while unorthodox games like Fantasy Action’s Blood Sport draw interested and spirited newcomers. In fact, the Fantasy Action realm provides typically un-athletic Bardians with a palpable physical outlet. Armed with foam swords and soaring imaginations, these gamers scramble around campus, embroiling themselves in full-contact war. While Blood Sport and other fantasy-based games might seem odd to casual observers, they demonstrate Bard’s ability to produce interesting alternatives to traditional athletics.
 

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Bard Student ReviewsWhat's This?

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Athletics at Bard College

nl3006

Psychology '15

1.2
D

No One Cares About It

Yeah, no one really cares about sports. If you like playing frisbee, that seems to have a decent following but it's really just a club of kids.

Apr 04, 2012

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Athletics at Bard College

Bennett

History Teacher Education '14

3.5
B

Event Staff

The Bard Raptors are pretty good, I believe that effort is what counts, no matter what the sport.

Nov 14, 2010

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Athletics at Bard College

abbydeu

'13

3.1
B-

More people are interested in discussing literature

the athletic department at bard is still building. basically this is not by any means a big sports school. more people are interested in discussing literature than playing catch. the good news is that we are joining the liberty league in 2012 which means that sports will be taken a lot more seriously here. the gym is super old and the weight room is so small. its really only the athletes that use it.

Mar 15, 2010

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Page 1 of 7
User rating for Bard College - Athletics is 2.3 out of 5 based on 19 user reviews.

Photos of Bard College's Athletics

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Student Survey Poll ResultsWhat's This?

How popular are varsity sports on campus?

How popular are intramurals and club sports?

How would you describe the athletic facilities?

Facts

Men's Varsity Sports
  • Basketball
  • Cross country
  • Soccer
  • Squash
  • Tennis
  • Track and field
  • Volleyball
Women's Varsity Sports
  • Basketball
  • Cross country
  • Lacrosse
  • Soccer
  • Tennis
  • Track and field
  • Volleyball
Intramurals
  • Badminton
  • Basketball
  • Bowling
  • Dodgeball
  • Floor Hockey
  • Foosball
  • Golf
  • Horseshoes
  • Kickball
  • Mini golf
  • Pool/billiards
  • Soccer (indoor)
  • Softball
  • Squash-Stevenson Cup
  • Table tennis
  • Tennis
  • Ultimate Frisbee
  • Volleyball
Club Sports
  • Cycling
  • Equestrian
  • Fencing
  • Ice Hockey
  • Rugby (men’s and women's)
  • Squash (women’s)
  • Swimming
  • Ultimate Frisbee
Athletic Fields & Facilities Stevenson Gymnasium

Most Popular Sports

Soccer, basketball, and rugby are probably the school’s three most popular sports. This, in Bard terms, doesn’t mean much, as only a couple dozen fans (mostly friends and family) show up for most games. The majority of Bard fails to rally behind its sports teams; pulses seem to get higher around the end-of-the-year UBS art show than during soccer finals.

Most Overlooked Teams

Squash at Bard is slowly earning recognition as an exciting, alternative spectator sport. For those of you who don’t know, squash is kind of like raquetball.

School Spirit

The only spirit you’ll find at Bard is a raging anti-spirit. Around here, there’s an instinctual suspician of anything remotely conformity-inducing, a perennial will to thwart the mindless let’s-go-get-‘em-team unity that might thrive at, say, a state school. At Bard, it’s the little guy who’s important. Rooting for a football team would be like rooting for the WTO (with cheerleaders). Around here, it’s hipper to knock an institution than it is to laud it; the majority of students are assiduously dedicated to squeezing as much jaded anti-institutional cynicism as they can into their seemingly short four-year stint. In fact, while only a few seem comfortable enough to wear T-shirts or sweatpants imprinted with the college’s recognizable name, a lot of Bardians would rather capitalize on the unfortunate and slightly ironic result of reversing the school’s logo; that is, flipping ‘Bard’ around to reveal the telling and only barely disguised cognomen—‘Drab.’ (A far more fitting title for the school, they’d argue, so that graffitied complaints pertaining to Bard’s overall ‘drabness’ unravel across desktops and bathroom walls everywhere on campus.) This might lead one to believe that the average student has little in the way of love for his or her alma mater. Yet, while most freshmen find it necessary to knock Bard in some way or another, their icy exteriors prove ultimately deliquescent; that is, over time, the cool, polished complaints melt into a warmer, if not indefinable pool of appreciation for the college. Most people that truly love Bard had to work for it; Many Bardians have a love-hate relationship with Bard. They have denounced it, cursed it, and then decided to stay because they realized how insignificant its faults are in comparison to the truly unique and amazing experience being a Bard student really is. For most students, there’s a feeling of mutual respect that only borders on spirit, but that helps nonetheless in lending Bardians some sense of unity and acceptance of all that is odd. Because Bard welcomes everyone, it’s difficult to unite students under any one dictum other than that we should love our school (quietly, perhaps) for giving us our choice.

Getting Tickets

No tickets are sold for Bard sporting events—there has never been a problem with seats filling up.

Best Place to Take a Walk

One of Bard’s strongest features is its location. The campus is simply beautiful year-round. During the warmer months, many students disappear for hours at a time, often exploring the woodland and waterfalls thronging the Hudson (this land is Bard-owned and well-maintained, and a precious resource to be enjoyed by any and all students). The Blithewood estate, also overlooking the Hudson, is a perfect spot for picnics or power-naps, and a Bard favorite during the spring. A short walk off campus brings you to Tivoli Bays, a nature preserve full of intertwining paths and gorgeous riverside views, while a short drive will take you to the Poet’s Walk, a long and sinuous hiking trail that wraps through some of the area’s most striking locales.

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Most Recent Student Author View all

Name
Courtney Scott
Hometown
Nashville, Tenn.

College Prowler is seeking talented student authors to assist with writing and updating the College Prowler guides to their schools. This is a great opportunity for a student to gain experience and tremendous exposure, utilize new media techniques, and share advice with high school students about what life is really like at your college.

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We update this information twice annually, most recently in May 2012, but it may not be the most recent information available for a particular school.
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