Sport Clubs rebounds following pandemic – Daily Sundial

CSUN’s Sport Clubs program offers students the opportunity to participate in competitive athletic activities both regionally and nationally. Led by Administrator John Paul Gale and Senior Coordinator Bladimir Martinez, the program includes 22 clubs.
Six clubs are categorized as either men’s or women’s clubs while 16 have no gender designation listed.
The history of the athletic club program at CSUN dates back to 1960 when the first and now defunct snow and water ski club was formed. In their early days, most clubs operated on an on and off basis.
“During that time, clubs have come back and forth,” Gale explained. “The first major organization that I know of was Associated Students Recreational Sports in 1994. All major sports clubs have been introduced with AS Recreational.”
Since the Student Recreation Center was built, Associated Students has not been responsible for overseeing each club. Sports clubs became a separate department in 2011 and have functioned independently ever since.
One of the most successful sports clubs at CSUN is ice hockey, which first began in 1971. During their time in the Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association, they were crowned conference champions three times. They have won four titles since joining the West Coast Hockey Conference, founded in 2010.
The regular hockey season is coming to an end. CSUN secured first place in WCHC’s Tier Two South Division after defeating CSU Fullerton on Saturday, January 28.
Of all the CSUN sports clubs, boxing, an individual sport with varying weight and experience classes, is the only one to win a national championship.
“We’ve never won an open championship in boxing, but we’ve won several novice and novice tournaments in various weight classes,” Gale summarized.
So far in the 2022/23 school year, several sports clubs have been almost or overcrowded due to their popularity.
“Esports has the largest list and Jiujitsu has filed the most waivers, resulting in some cuts,” Martinez noted.
Other athletic clubs active in the Spring 2023 semester include archery, baseball, cheer, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, table tennis, women’s lacrosse, and women’s rugby.
“We’re pretty busy this semester,” Martinez said.
Sports clubs differ from the athletics program in a number of ways. Sports clubs are student-run, meaning players choose when to train and contact the league to set season schedules. In the athletics program, athletes train and play just like clubs, but coaches and administrators run the operations. Athletics recruits are often offered scholarships that require a higher level of commitment than club membership. Clubs charge fees from students, which are used for uniforms and wages, rather than paying students to play.
The sports clubs are still suffering from the effects of the corona pandemic. Seasons were shortened and rosters often fell short of capacity.
Martinez believes clubs can improve by continuing to grow as they have this year.
“Some of the clubs that we have lost because of the pandemic, [our goal is to get] them back to the level they were before it all happened,” he said.
Clubs lost to the pandemic include men’s rugby, triathlon, women’s basketball and wrestling. However, esports emerged in 2022, offering people a new club to join when students returned to campus.
The 2022/23 school year is the first since the pandemic without cancellations or low interest in club sport, signaling clubs are on track to meet the senior coordinator’s goals.