Club sports are a relatively unknown gem on the Trinity campus. Many of the athletes who participate in club sports believe they are an option for students who wish to compete, have fun and make new friends in college.
The biggest club sport on campus is the Ultimate Frisbee club. The student body has shown such a strong interest that a separate women’s team will be added this year, making it the first year that there will be both a men’s and women’s team instead of a single co-ed team.
“They [the Ultimate Frisbee Club] do such a good job of fostering a sense of pride within the students. They’re so intrinsically motivated, and they just do a fabulous job,” said Caroline Keener, coordinator of club sports.
Students of any athletic ability can join club sports, whether they have played the sport before or not.
“We have people who have been playing for years and years, but we also have a couple of people who have never played before and just joined,” said Sam Simoneau, sophomore a member of the men’s club volleyball team.
Most club sports have a relaxed practice and competition schedule””they practice two to three times each week and compete four to five times a semester.
“You actually get to play at a competitive level, but with not the same time commitment it would be for a collegiate sport,” Simoneau said.
The teams are entirely student-run, so they offer unique opportunities for student leadership. “The fact that we don’t have a coach is really cool, and that we have students that stand up to be leaders,” Simoneau said.
The club teams compete throughout the year against club teams from other universities around the state.
They also travel to cities like Waco, Austin and Houston entirely on their own.
“We went to a tournament in Corpus Christi last season and we won. It was fun getting to hang out with friends all day and compete together as teammates,” said Camille Reuter, sophomore co-captain of the club tennis team.
In recent years, some clubs, including both the men’s and women’s volleyball teams, have won major matches and had great success in the leagues in which they compete.
“Men’s volleyball is consistently beating out Division I schools””big Division I schools, like Baylor””and they’ve gotten pretty close to beating UT,” Keener said.
Club sports do require members to pay dues, but money from the rec sports budget this year will go towards buying club sports teams Nike uniforms.
“They can go out and really represent us and further brand the university,” Keener said.
Joining club sports””like joining any other club on campus””is a way for students to meet people on campus who have similar interests and feel like they are part of a team.
Trinity has six club sports teams on campus including tennis, women’s lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, equestrian and both men’s and women’s volleyball.
Over 200 students participate in at least one club sport every year.
