Club Sports

Why club sports deserve more recognition

Sydney Territo terrisyd000@hsestudents.org

Last year, the boys volleyball team nished h in the nation, making conditions. In order to swim at club meets, swimmers must submit a waiver and are only it the second consecutive time they have ranked nationally, yet they gained no more recognition in the school than they have in prior years. is is one example of a larger problem with a lack of advertisement for club sports teams, due to the fact that they are not a liated with the school. Sports a liated with the school, such as football, cross country, tennis, baseball and basketball, are classi ed under the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), which takes care of most of the planning and functionality of the sports it recognizes. e IHSAA plans statewide tournaments, ensures the safety of players, determines quali cations for o cials involved in the sport, protects students and schools against exploitation and establishes standards for sportsmanship and eligibility in the games played. A sport can only be o cially recognized by the IHSAA if over half of schools in the state sponsor it;, otherwise, it must be a club. Currently, there are four club sports at the school: rugby, volleyball, hockey and lacrosse. ese sports are not a liated with the school because they are not recognized by the IHSAA and organized through separate governing bodies that take care of the organization of teams across the state. e school’s swimming team is a special case, where there is a speci c IHSAA team as well as a club sport run out of the school. While the club sport is not a liated with the school, Fishers swimmers can swim for some club events, under certain allowed to swim at a maximum of two club meets. Additionally, the guidelines for IHSAA sports are di erent from club swim sports (i.e. allowing jewelry for club sports, but not for school sports and not allowing visible blood when swimming for school meets). I play rugby, which is a club sport. I love playing rugby as well as the community and sportsmanship surrounding it, but o entimes we can only get rugby enthusiasts or parents to attend games and tournaments. is can get a little disheartening, especially when no one is there to see our accomplishments. It would be amazing to see a greater turnout at games because it would show me that my peers are interested in supporting my hobbies, and it would make me feel like my team was seen and appreciated by the school. One potential reason for there being such a small turnout at games is the lack of advertisement for them around the school. With school sports, the coaches can come from the school, which gives the sport more of a connection to the students, whereas club sports need to hire their own coaches. is makes it harder for club sports to network because coaches typically have increased di culty sending out information, such as callout meetings, due to their lack of knowledge about school events and advertising locations. e school can potentially resolve this issue by communicating more with club sports’ sponsors and coaches. If the coaches know the school calendar or are made aware of opportunities to promote the club, they would have a greater opportunity to gain more participants. Additionally, promoting club sports more would help to increase visibility as well. If schedules for the sport are released or advertised on the TVs around the school, there will be increased visibility for it, and it could attract interested individuals as well. I believe that the lack of turnout and love for club sports is purely due to the scarcity of information on them. Most people I talk to about my sport are shocked that we even have a girls rugby team, and the more I talk to people about it, the more I attract potential players and pique their interest in it. If there is more buzz about club sports, more people will take an interest in them, which will bring a bigger and better community around each club. Senior Melvin Lopez runs towards the try zone to score a point at a rugby sevens tournament on Oct. 3. Photo used with permission of Jordan MacMillan.