Lewis University has its primary NCAA sports that students, family and friends like to cheer on to victory. Baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball are just a few of the 10 sports that Lewis offers. Now there seems to be a new bunch of athletes catching student attention.
Lewis University is seeing a rise in popularity amongst student-run sports, or club teams. Club teams are similar to the regular NCAA teams. Both teams wear the Flyers uniform, play other college teams, do long distance traveling, fundraisers and show school pride along with their athletic talent. These sports teams are started and led by Lewis students though. These aren’t just young adults who one day decided to sign up and try out for a sports team. These are the students who did all the paper work, held tryouts, found ways to raise money for their sport as well as organize the team. The reward–these students get to play the sport they put a ton of time, money and effort into getting started.
Rugby, volleyball and inline hockey are three recently formulated club team’s at Lewis. A few of the other schools that the Lewis club teams play include Depaul, the University of Chicago, Loyola, Northeastern, College of Dupage, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, the University of Illinois and Illinois State.
Out-of-state travel is on the rise as well, especially for the hockey team.
Jill Siegfried, the Director of Student Recreation and Wellness, has noticed an increase in the popularity of club sports for both current and incoming students.
“These teams have really been growing, running strong and getting a lot of attention. Not just from the current students here either, but from possible incoming freshman that are at the open house days as well.”
Siegfried has seen an interest in the hockey team from incoming students.
“A lot of the incoming freshman checking out the university are ice hockey players, so when they ask if we have an ice hockey team I tell them about the inline hockey team, and they seem to be very interested or even excited to come and play,” Siegfried said.
Hockey, volleyball and rugby are the club teams Lewis has that currently compete, but the number of Lewis club teams is still growing. Three more club teams may possibly be added to the list by as early as next year.
Ultimate Frisbee is one of the three clubs to be possibly added next. Ultimate Frisbee was a Lewis club in the past for almost two years until it had to be temporarily shut down. Club wrestling is another sport that will soon be added at Lewis University.
Siegfried said, “Wrestling is a popular sport that numerous students in the past talked about wanting to start. We have enough athletes to have a wrestling team. Right now our only problem is having a place for these athletes to practice at, which we are currently working on.”
Men’s soccer is the third club team being talked about adding to the university’s club list.
One topic Siegfried brought up is that Lewis is really happy with the increasing number of sports clubs being started at Lewis, but that the university is hoping to get some female athletic clubs started.
“Sports like volleyball, badminton, bowling and soccer are sports that are generally more popular with a female turnout that would be great to have club teams for,” Siegfried said.
Students at Lewis are showing that they don’t have to go to another university to play their favorite sport. These students have shown that they can go to a school as academically renowned as Lewis and can still compete in their favorite sport, even if it isn’t already here. This shows dedication and a great pride for education and athletics. The success of Lewis club sports such as hockey, rugby and volleyball show that the opportunities are available at Lewis. Students just have to be willing to put some time into getting it started. People can either sit back and watch the sport they love, or they can go out and play it.
Anthony Weihofen, Staff Reporter
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