It is nearly impossible to walk the paths of Idaho’s campus during the academic year and not hear about the football team, volleyball team, basketball teams and all the rest of Idaho’s varsity sports. What students may not realize is that Idaho also offers a wide variety of club sports of which many compete near a varsity level. Unlike varsity sports, most of them also require little to no experience to join.
Competing at a high level,while also accommodating everyone on the team, may seem like a tall order but there are methods in place to assure it’s possible.
“Depending on the sport, some have A and B squads … and they’ll enter tournaments and competitions with that same format,” Sport Club Director Gordon Gresch said. “They’ll have an A and a B or a gold and a silver squad and, internally, the club gets to decide which squad you’re on.”
Some clubs do hold tryouts to determine who will be on the starting squad, Gresch said. These are the clubs that are almost varsity in nature.
One of Idaho’s sport clubs that seems to stand out the most is the men’s lacrosse team.
“They are probably the most similar to an organized varsity sport … as far as they have a conference that’s designed just like the (varsity) basketball team has,” Gresch said. “They have a series of competitions that they can advance to regionals in and even nationals.”
The men’s lacrosse team plays in the north division of the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League (PNCLL) with Simon Fraser University, University of Washington, Montana and WSU. It also enjoys one of the largest followings at Idaho with many of the home games having fans circling the entire Kibbie Dome SprinTurf.
The men’s lacrosse team has built a large following but some of the club sports are still growing. The women’s lacrosse team is an example of a sport club that has taken some major strides in recent years.
“We’re still pretty new,” Brittiany Graham, women’s lacrosse team president said. “And everyone’s experience ranges from never playing before to 13 years. For a newer team, we have actually come a long way.”
Graham said the team has been in the Northwest Women’s Lacrosse League for three years.
While the lacrosse teams are examples of recent club sport success, the men’s rugby team has been known for a long standing tradition of success. Originating in 1976, the Idaho men’s rugby team has been going strong for nearly 40 years. Current coach Joe McGurkin first played rugby for Idaho’s club team in 1978 and has been playing or working with the program on and off ever since.
“To this day, my best friends in my life are the guys I played rugby with at Idaho,” Coach McGurkin said. “Without a doubt, there’s no question about it. And that’s really cool.”
Sport clubs get out whatever they put into the program. The teams get some funding from the university but they also often have to do fundraising to keep up with expenses.
Mason Sideroff, president of the horse polo club, said people often don’t realize the hard work that goes on behind the scenes of the sports.
After all the hard work and sore muscles there is also reward. Whether an athlete is an experienced veteran or wanting to try something new, Idaho’s sport clubs offer many unique opportunities for friendship and competition.
“You never know who’s going to be good at it,” Garrett Hall, water polo team president and coach said. “I had a girl (I coached) in high school … at the beginning of the year she couldn’t let go of the wall because she didn’t know how to swim. By the end of the year she had made varsity. We’re always open to new people.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]
More info: In addition to the common sport clubs such as baseball, men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s volleyball, Idaho offers a variety of sport clubs that aren’t as common. Some of these include men’s and women’s rugby, horse polo, water polo and trap shooting. Rounding out Idaho’s 21 sport clubs are climbing, cycling, fast pitch, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s lacrosse, rodeo, ski, freestyle ski and snowboard and ultimate Frisbee.