University of Maryland Club Sports pushes for student engagement and exposure

Club Sports at the University of Maryland has recently been pushing to promote and grow its platform and name across campus, hoping to let the student body know of the talent that may be overlooked in the athletic world surrounding campus.

With 47 sports to choose to play being a Club Sports athlete, from being a part of the sailing team to playing basketball, students have the opportunity to still play at a high level and get the experience of being a student-athlete on campus, while not taking the traditional route of being recruited out of high school to be a varsity level athlete for the NCAA.

The Student Government Association helps run Club Sports, while for the most part, it is completely student-run. Schedules for games and practices consist mostly of students running the show, however, they don’t do it alone.

Maeve McKinney, Coordinator for Club Sports and the RecWell Center helps patrol and plan logistics involving the student-athletes in Club Sports. McKinney was a past Club Sports student-athlete as well, enjoying her time being a part of the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, McKinney said.

“I had a great time being involved with the team,” McKinney said. “It very much made my college experience, which is definitely kind of what sparked my interest in the field being involved years after graduating.”

McKinney said that there is plenty of talent and skill that does go unrecognized and growing that is an important goal that Club Sports is aiming to change.

“There’s a lot of cool and interesting stories that we have that have been missed out on from getting more attention,” McKinney said. “For example, our Men’s Lacrosse team has won the national championship two years in a row, and things like that are really cool that people may like to know. Growing the club would help benefit our students a ton, and that’s what we are continuing to try to do.”

Noah Richards, a former Club Sports student-athlete, said how it would be rewarding to help grow the clubs to continue to bring in more students each semester.

“I remember when I played it was a ton of fun, and very competitive,” Richards said. “As long as they can do stuff like promoting games, do charity events, or whatever else they can come up with, I believe more people would try to learn more about what goes on and get the students to help keep Club Sports fun.”

Emma Syles, a sophomore student, was curious about joining Women’s Club Soccer, however, did not know much about what goes on with Club Sports on campus.

“I wanted to do it this year but didn’t really know what it would be like,” Syles said. “I’ll try again to play next year because I still want to compete at a competitive level past high school, just haven’t gotten the opportunity for myself yet.”

When asked if Syles would have been exposed earlier to Club Sports from promotions, Syles believed it would have helped her in the process of lacing up her cleats once again.

“If I knew more about it from like signs on campus or emails, I’m sure I would have had an easier time to actually start,” Syles said. “It would honestly be a win-win for both sides. They would gain more traction with students wanting to play more, and I would have started to participate earlier on.”