Club sports seasons have been underway since the beginning of Fall Quarter, and while many teams are off to successful starts, club athletes have expressed concerns about a lack of support from Northwestern.
Teams circulated information about their tryouts via social media, primarily conducting them during the weekend before classes began. Club sports captains said there was pressure to quickly finalize team rosters since games for some sports, such as soccer and rugby, were set to start the following week.
Club sports’ time commitment includes practices two to three times a week and games that can require hours of commute. Weinberg sophomore and club soccer player Eleanor Bergstein finds the commitment level of her club sport ideal.
“It fits in very nicely with everything else that I’m doing,” Bergstein said. “I can still play competitively and have a team environment, but not have to feel like it’s taking up my entire life, which is what it would be like if I was a varsity athlete.”
Women’s club soccer has had a strong season, qualifying for this weekend’s regionals. Men’s club soccer is also heading to regionals this weekend.
However, Weinberg senior and club soccer captain Diego Guerrero believes that, despite their success on the field, the University could be doing more to promote participation in club sports.
“Kids who played sports in high school come into college and get overwhelmed by all things they can do, and miss the opportunity to join or don’t know who to talk to,” Guerrero said. “If more people knew about this, we could have more kids on each team, more kids trying. Now, some of the teams are underfunded and low on participation.”
Guerrero suggested organizing a club sport-specific event during Wildcat Welcome, separate from the club fair that takes place in the first week of school.
Well-planned communication was also an issue that Bergstein faced during this year’s club soccer tryouts. As the club soccer team’s social media chair, she is responsible for posting dates and times ahead of tryouts.
“You would expect there to be more communication about it in advance,” Bergstein said. “The problem that we face is that there’s a lack of communication from the school to club sports. A lot of times, information about travel weekends or about fields will come out at the very last minute.”
Some clubs don’t know which fields they can use or their scheduling until the last minute, making it difficult for teams to communicate a clear plan to students in advance, Bergstein said.
Medill sophomore Avery Leiderman started on the club basketball team during her freshman fall and has since joined club lacrosse.
Leiderman said increasing the publicity of club sports would not only enhance teams’ performance but also help build communities that support students throughout their college experience.
“When you come to Northwestern, you come from completely different places from everyone,” Leiderman said. “You have different lives, different upbringings, but there’s one route that you share, your sport, and it’s nice to find your people at a place where everyone is so different.”
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