The men's gymnastics team, a non-funded varsity sport, discontinued intercollegiate competition this spring after the National Collegiate Athletic Association ruled that the team's membership was too low.
The NCAA requires six members to constitute a team; the Dartmouth team had only four last year, two from the Class of 1994 and two from the Class of 1996.
Like both the men's and women's volleyball teams and the sailing team, men's gymnastics had varsity status but was unfunded, receiving only administrative support from the Athletic Department.
Unlike club sports, the non-funded varsity teams can participate in NCAA competition.
Ken Jones, associate director of physical education, coached the women's gymnastics team for a short time and the men's team for 18 years.
"If you put that many years into it," he said, "you have to be sad that it goes."
Jones said the men's team has existed "off and on" since the early 1900s. It had club status in the 1960s and varsity status later that decade. A women's varsity team was instituted after co-education. In 1982, due to budget pressures and dwindling membership, the women's team was discontinued and the men's team lost funding.
Jones said that some women worked out with the men this year, but there weren't enough committed women gymnasts to form a team.
According to Athletic Director Dick Jaeger, there is demand for the space set aside for gymnastics equipment, and liability risks posed additional problems for his office. Jaeger said that the gymnastics equipment can be used by casual users.
"They can kill themselves," he said, citing the trampoline as one particularly dangerous piece of equipment.
Coach Keith Van Winkle said that gender equity at Dartmouth may have been an additional factor in the decision to drop the men's varsity team.
He hopes there is enough enthusiasm next year to form a club team for both men and women.
Becky Bishop '95 has been a gymnast since she was three, and was the California state champion when she was 13.
According to Bishop, women gymnasts reach their peak in their early teens, while men gymnasts reach their peak in their late twenties. The men's sport is based on strength and the women's sport is based more on ability and flexibility.
But the sport is "something you can never let go," she said.
Bishop said that some alumni funding could help a club team next year, but would be conditional on gender equity. She said a co-ed club team is a possibility.
