Outside of Vassar’s varsity athletics scene, there is a strong intramural (IM) sports community on campus, which includes a diverse range of sports. While it is mostly students who participate in these sports, there is one notable exception: the faculty intramural soccer team, Ye Olde Football Teame. This team actually consists of a variety of players, both faculty and students alike, who play against teams of students in Vassar’s 7v7 intramural soccer league.
The faculty members who play most frequently on Ye Olde Football Teame are Assistant Professor of Biology Colin Echeverría Aitken, Professor of Chemistry and Director of Biochemistry Zachary Donhauser, Associate Professor of Economics Qi Ge, and Assistant Professor of Economics Esteban Argudo. The student roster rotates, depending on those who go abroad or are committed to other activities.
In an interview with The Miscellany News, Donhauser provided some background to the history of Ye Olde Football Teame. “Professor Aitken and I started coaching youth soccer together because we have kids of the same age,” he said. “For me, that reminded me of how fun of a sport it is, and we got to talking about how we should start our own team. He and I came up with the idea and started reaching out to people.”
Many of the members of the team—faculty and students alike—are lifelong athletes, and a number of them have specifically been soccer players for the duration of their careers. When asked how long he had been playing soccer, Aitken replied: “My whole life. I learned to play soccer before I learned to walk. I played in college at Wesleyan, and I played in a men’s league during my Ph.D. at Stanford, and then I played in a men’s league during my postdoc in Maryland.” Aitken also mentioned that his identity as a Colombian-American strongly influenced his love of soccer. “In Colombia, soccer…is absolutely everything, and the successes and failures of Colombian soccer have marked my life,” he said.
The students who have participated in the team have a similar history with soccer. Cassie Koyamatsu ’25 wrote in an email correspondence to The Miscellany News: “I played soccer all my life and I was on Vassar’s varsity soccer team for [two] years.” Other members of the team also have diverse experiences in other sports, including squash, track, road cycling and cricket.
It goes without saying that being on a team with professors is a very different experience from how one may interact with professors in a classroom context. Kyle Benson ’26, who was a member of Ye Olde Football Teame in previous seasons, mentioned that he is in Aitken’s research lab and is his advisee. In addition, Benson has previously taken a class with Ge in the Economics Department. Similarly, Kayleigh Mason ’24 first joined the team after a conversation with Donhauser, who was both her research lab advisor and her Thermodynamics and Chemical Kinetics professor.
When asked about their experience playing a sport with some of their professors, the students on the team were all delighted. “I really enjoy playing with professors! They bring a different vibe than the student IM teams I’ve been on, which I like—it’s supportive, laid-back, but also competitive (we’ve made the playoffs each of the last two seasons!),” wrote Oliver Stewart ’25 [Disclaimer: Stewart is Assistant Humor Editor for The Miscellany News]. Koyamatsu echoed this sentiment, writing: “Through soccer I’ve felt like I’ve been able to get to know my professors more outside the academic setting. I love how competitive the team is while still emphasizing that a goal of our team is not to get injured.”
The professors also noted the differences between interactions with students in the classroom and on the field. In a written correspondence to The Miscellany News, Ge wrote: “Playing with and against my students is genuinely enjoyable. These games are both friendly and competitive. It’s a great way to get to know each other outside of the classroom setting.” Donhauser further explained, “As a professor, I usually only get to see one specific facet of a student, their science-y personality. It’s been fun to get to know students on a different level.”
It is rare that the Vassar community is able to come together in an endeavor like this. When asked what the most rewarding part of the experience of playing on Ye Olde Football Teame has been, Aitken shared sentiments similar to Donhauser and Ge: “First, just being able to play regularly with my friends at a reasonably competitive level and with students. I think it’s really cool to be a part of the community in a completely different way and see sides of students that I’ve never experienced. [Second], getting to play semi-regularly because soccer has always been a part of my life, and when I don’t get to play, it does feel like something is missing.”
Koyamatsu also mentioned the love of soccer that connects the members of the team. “I would say the most rewarding part of being on the team would be playing with the professors in a sport I love,” she said. “Even when the other team doesn’t show up, we still play small sided games together.” Aitken spoke about his hopes for the team going forward, saying, “When we’ve been able to get to that space where it’s competitive but friendly and we can see each other as fellow humans out there who love soccer, it’s just really really fun. And I hope I can do it for a very, very long time…in the sense that it is fun for us and fun for the students. I wouldn’t want to foist ourselves on the community. I’m grateful that the students are excited about it.”
Ye Olde Football Teame is a prime example of how a shared passion for sports can bring together members of our diverse community, from students all the way up to professors. While this season’s intramural soccer season is coming to a close, Ye Olde Football Teame hopes to continue playing in future semesters, bringing their passion for soccer to Vassar’s intramural sports community.