MORRISVILLE, NY—Five days a week, Morrisville State College students clad in boots wielding chainsaws and axes, meet in an open field behind the Cornell Cooperative Extension Building in Morrisville.
On a given practice day, Tyler Kulikowski, an agriculture engineering student from Bath, decides to go first. Setting his stance and concentrating intently on his technique, he wraps his right hand around a wooden axe handle and keenly eyes the target in front of him. Gloveless and determined, he hurls the piece of wood and metal which lands with force in the middle of the target.
Nearby, MSC students Kaitlyn Baker, of Van Etten, and Teresa Link, of Camden, exchange commands during a log-rolling lesson. Grimacing as they push a 500-pound timber down a muddy field with a logging tool, they celebrate when it settles perfectly in-between two metal stakes.
Kulikowski, Baker and Link are members of the college’s newly formed woods sports team. The co-ed team which participates in woodsmen-type sports, including throwing axes and cutting logs with giant saws is comprised of students from various programs including, automotive technology, agricultural engineering, nursing, criminal justice, and environmental and natural resource conservation.
“Students had been pushing for this type of team for years,” said Brendan Kelly, an MSC professor who also serves as team manager. Kelly and Seth Carsten, instructional support assistant and team coach, started the college’s woods sports team this semester.
Cornell Cooperative Extension offered the team the practice site, which also provides a large pole barn to shelter them from the elements.
The rookie team participated in its first competition at the Pioneer Games held recently at Alfred University. Despite only having six weeks of practice prior to the competition, Carsten lauded the team for its efforts.
Fielding a team has been difficult, but not because of a lack of interest, according to Carsten. “There are fees to compete, costs of rooms for overnight competitions and heavy costs for equipment,” he said.
The team has relied on donations for their registration fees and equipment, and many have dipped into their own pockets. Carsten utilizes the equipment they have, and helps to defray the cost of buying new equipment by making and repairing some of the team’s tools at home.
The college’s wood for practices, which comes from felling trees through the natural resource conservation and other programs, helps absorb some of the costs other teams face.
Faculty and campus departments have showed their support, stepping in to help where they can. The college’s residential construction program has helped cut practice logs, while faculty and students in the mechanical engineering department helped build the team’s Peavey tools. A donation from the college’s Athletic Department enabled the team to compete at Alfred.
Carsten hopes the team will become a club or sport in the future. So do participants.
“I would love to see this grow to something bigger and for us to be able to get funding for better equipment,” said team member Griffin Kleps, of Old Forge, a residential construction student.
In the days leading up to their next competition at Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire April 24-25, teammates remain focused.
“We have the athletic ability. We need to work on accuracy and technique,” said Kulikowski, who has been perfecting his skills for the underhand chop competition, which involves chopping a block of wood while standing on it and swinging an axe between the legs.
The team’s grueling practices, some which go on for nearly three hours, will help them perfect timing and technique, and will factor into their performance at the Dartmouth College competition.
“When it is all said and done, It’s not all about winning to them,” Carsten said. “It’s about the showmanship and the meaning behind what they are doing.”
To make a tax-deductible donation to support the college’s woods sports team, visit www.morrisville.edu/giving/.
Morrisville State’s curricula are enriched with applied learning and pave the way for opportunity at both the Morrisville and Norwich campuses. An action-oriented, interactive learning lab, the college is a national leader in technology and has been lauded for its exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs.
In addition to being named to the 2014 President’s Higher Community Education Service Honor Roll, the college was recognized by U.S. News and World Report as an institution in the top tier of the Best Regional Colleges list and ranked second among regional colleges nationwide for outperforming its anticipated graduation rate.