Varsity sports are not the only teams that Trinity offers. Trinity is home to 13 official club teams. Club sports have allowed students who are interested to continue playing a sport they may have played before they came to college that is not as time consuming as the varsity teams. They also allow students to try sports they have never had the opportunity to play at a less demanding level.
One of these competitive teams is the men’s club basketball team. They have been practicing all year, working on their skills, and developing a team. They are competing in their first round of scrimmages of the year this weekend on Saturday, April 22 in Austin.
“A strength of the team is our diverse skill-level; there are guys who have played competitive varsity high school basketball, and people who just took up the sport recently,” sophomore Cole Jackson said. “It is nice to have varying skill levels so that anyone who comes out feels welcome to play. I feel good going into the tournament.”
The team has been practicing twice a week since the fall semester. Due to the fact they are a fairly new program, they have not had the opportunity to play in a tournament this year. Although they have not gotten to compete against other teams, they have been preparing all year so when the opportunity came up, they were ready. Just like any other team, they have their strengths and challenges, and just like all teams, they have been working to highlight on those strengths and create solutions for the challenges.
“The team right now has on a focus on skill, hard work, and chemistry,” sophomore captain Nick Thies said. “Although we may not be the most talented group of basketball players, talent doesn’t always win games. We as a team believe that hard work intelligent play and lock-down defense are our biggest priorities and our success will come from that.”
What makes club sports different, besides that they are associated with Trinity Athletics or compete in the NCAA divisions, they play with schools of all different divisions from all over the state and even some outside of Texas. Some of these teams compete with schools such as University of Texas or Baylor University or Louisiana State University.
“We are looking at joining the Texas Collegiate Club Sports League,” sophomore Logan Simmons said. “As of right now we have nine members going to play in the scrimmage. We will be playing with new members so we will be practicing with them this week as much as possible.”
The team hopes to grow and play some tournaments in the fall. As a new team, they have met the requirements of what exactly it takes to be competitive. Now, they have the opportunity to take what they have been practicing and use it on the court.
“As for the upcoming games I’m from Austin Texas and played many games in the St. Edwards gym growing up,” Thies said. “It will be fun to bring my friends from San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, etc to Austin. We hope on the 22nd we enjoy a nice competitive game, with a school right down the road. With a secondary focus of creating a friendship with the coaching staff and players of St. Edwards to further our future exhibition opportunities.”
