Sports and Fitness

Team Sports

Men’s Soccer Team

Since 2000-2001, with an exception of a bye year in 2001-2002, Franklin’s men’s soccer team has competed in the National Swiss Division. The team competes with other clubs in the league from the Canton of Ticino. Franklin College is currently the reserve team for the local club FC Paradiso, making it Franklin FC Paradiso II. In recent years the team has won three Fair Play Awards and has placed close to second on a couple of occasions. Lanier sponsored the team until Ricoh took over at the beginning of the 2009 season. The team trains twice a week and competes on the weekends in both the fall and spring semesters - home games are played on Friday nights. The players have a mid-season break from December to February. During this period the school hosts an indoor soccer tournament open to all Franklin students, faculty and staff.

Women’s Soccer Team

The women's soccer team at Franklin started as a club in 2004-2005. It is still building up to become a truly competitive team. However, during the last few years, approximately 35 girls have regularly participated in at least one of the two weekly practices, which are usually held indoors in our gym. The team can also practice on our own 6vs6 field and sometimes on the main athletic field. Most years the team travels to the beautiful city of Bergamo for an opportunity to play against other local teams. We usually play 3 to 5 friendly matches in the fall (versus TASIS) and 5 to7 games in the spring, most of them at the international tournament organized by FC Rapid Lugano.

The Franklin intramural basketball team is an organized group of basketball players who practice twice a week in the Athletic Center. The team, which consists of both male and female players, travels to northern Spain every spring to participate in an international college basketball tournament.

This spring Franklin College is hosting an intramural indoor soccer tournament. Teams of five individuals will be competing against each other in the Athletic Center. The winners of the tournament will have their names engraved on a historical plaque, in addition to each team member receiving an individual prize.  

Fitness

In addition to open gym, the Athletic Center is proud to bring a wide variety of athletic programs to the students of Franklin College, including intramural sports, fitness classes and opportunities for involvement in the local community.

Gym Hours

Some of the activities put on by the Athletic Center this semester include: 

Karate Classes

The Franklin karate classes include American Kenpo karate, with some conceptual judo added. Kenpo is a mixture of many different types of eastern martial arts as well as American street fighting, taking what are considered the most effective concepts from each art and applying them. It is heavily based on self-defense. The instructor, Quinn Flanagan, has been studying karate for 12 years and earned her adult black belt in December, 2006. She has been teaching for 6 years and recently helped her family open a karate school.

Yoga Classes

The Franklin Athletic Center offers two intensive yoga fitness classes every week. Yoga is based on traditional physical and mental practices originating in India. You will have the opportunity to learn this ancient art and tone your body at the same time. Classes will be led by Franklin's own Andriana Friel.

Other activities, including a variety of Educational Programs, Franklin Women's Volleyball, Gymnastics and Franklin College Running Group, are scheduled on a semester basis. Please make sure to check this webpage or the Events Calendar to find out about the different sporting events occurring on and off campus. You can download the complete Athletic Center schedule for Spring 2010 here.

Reserving the Gym

Groups looking to use the gym MUST reserve it ahead of time. Those interested in reserving the gym should contact Kyle Carpenter directly at kcarpenter@fc.edu for scheduling.

Local Sports

For information on sports activities in and around Lugano, see the sports section on the Lugano city site.