Clubs sports are ready and available to students at UNBSJ, but in order to keep the various programs going, there needs to be an interest and commitment from those who want to play.
Gary Leslie is the head honcho as far as club sports go on campus and he is stressing that students should get involved. In the up coming year “we are offering or hoping to offer the following: women’s hockey, women’s field hocking, women’s rugby, co-ed badminton and men’s football,” says Leslie. Baseball and men’s rugby are also in the mix, but there’s currently not enough interest or commitment to form a club.
Club sports are a great way to get involved on campus. “The benefits of sport club participation may include the development of leadership skills,” says Leslie, “a team oriented environment, enhanced physical fitness, development of skills in a particular sport, stress reduction and friendship.”
“It is more difficult than you expect to get students involved,” says Leslie. There seems to be a great deal of initial interest in forming and participating in club sports, but the number of those committed to the club seems to dwindle. For example, women’s rugby had 49 people interested in the beginning, but only 20 made the commitment to move forward.
All it takes to get involved is contacting a club that is already formed through their executive or the athletics department, or you can contact the department about forming a new club. “We would love to hear from those interested in any form of club sport,” says Leslie.
“I would love to see more involvement with all the clubs,” he says. Each club needs four or five good members to form the executive and rally other students to get and stay involved.
If there’s no interest in various clubs, then they slowly deteriorate and are left at the wayside. “Sport clubs that have no interest do not survive long,” says Leslie. They get put on hiatus until there’s enough interest to keep them going.
There are many benefits to joining or forming a club sport on campus. “Being involved in extracurricular activities looks just as good on a resume as a course and are sometimes even more important,” says Leslie, “the whole co-curricular notion of sports, education and activities working together to form a learning environment is so true.”
Club sports can also benefit the university as a whole. Potential students are interested in coming to UNBSJ based on the club sports available. “This is exciting for the department,” says Leslie, “first, it brings students to UNBSJ in line with the Strategic Plan we have for the department. Second, it brings more athletes to the UNBSJ campus that have the ability to play other sports too.”
“A sport club can be a great way to add to your university experience,” says Leslie. Now that you know a bit more about how to get involved with club sports on campus and how it can benefit you, the question remains, are you ready to commit?
