Obtaining team rosters from private school

I'm doing some research on someone, and I'm trying to obtain records of this person participating in a sports club in the mid-2000s at a private research school. The team has competed in public tournaments, but I'm not sure how much luck I will have reaching out to the school's athletic department. I doubt a FOIL will do the trick, compared to a public school. Any tips or suggestions?

 

A lot of schools send their yearbooks to local libraries.

 

Do you know anyone at the school who might have an old program or yearbook laying around? A teacher, coach or classmate of the person?
Did the person play a major sport like football where their name might have popped up in a game story? Or even on a roster that might have been in a preview section?
In that same vein, are there any old sports writers in the area that might remember them or have some records?

 

Thanks. Though, I fear the team is too small to have a yearbook worth sending to
the library.

I do not. This person was on a martial arts team in the mid-2000s, and the team
was small, so I'm not sure if a yearbook does exist.

The coach, coincidentally, is still on staff. I could reach out to him to see if
he has the roster list from that era. Do you think there might be an issue with
student privacy? For sports, I don't think it would it be a problem. The other
tricky thing is I'm doing this independently, not on behalf of a school or media outlet.

No. This person did martial arts, so I would assume it's not as followed closely
as, say, baseball or football.

 

Unless it's Scientology High or some other cult, or the person is notorious or some sort of persona non grata, I can't imagine why it would be an issue. You're asking if they remember the person and were a member of the team. Privacy probably applies to things like grades and attendance records, not asking someone if they remember a guy who used to go to that school.
Just be sure to present yourself accurately. If the coach knows it's for some publication or project, rather than some jamoke calling out of the blue, they might be more inclined to cooperate.

 

It's simple -- just freakin' ask them ...

 

Yeah, to kind of piggyback off this - Unless you're doing an investigative piece of some sort that requires secrecy, this all seems like information that a coach or school official would be OK to give you, or to verify. Even if it was a small club, the advisor / coach could likely verify that the person was on it. I was a high school newspaper advisor for about five years a decade ago - If someone asked me if John Smith was in the club, I could likely answer yes or no or not sure.