Say you’re a senior in high school. You just finished your last ever season of your high school sport. You already know you’re not playing for your college, but you still love your sport. What are your options? 

One option is club sports. Club sports are a midpoint in between collegiate sports and intramural sports. Club sports still create a wonderful and tight knit community without the commitment of collegiate athletics. If you played a sport in high school and were dedicated to it, but don’t want to make the commitment to become a full time athlete, club sports might be a good option for you. Many colleges have clubs of most sports you can imagine, including swimming, soccer, basketball, waterpolo, and many more. Plenty of college club sports teams are also in leagues of their own with surrounding universities and still have regional and national competitions. 

Hayley Trimmer is a freshman at the University of Vermont. She graduated from Shorewood in 2022 and had been on the swim team all four years. She decided to join the club swim team at the University of Vermont. Trimmer said club sports are a great way to do the sport you love. “There are also optional meets that are a ton of fun. I’ve also met a lot of wonderful people through club swimming, some of whom are now my good friends,” she added. 

Trimmer noted that she got involved with club swimming at her college by going to the UVM club fair at the beginning of the year and signed up for the club swim email list. “That way, I would be in the know about practices and other events,” Trimmer said. She ended up choosing club sports over collegiate or intramural because she “wanted a more relaxed and fun experience.” 

Trimmer noted one downside to club sports. “Club sports tend to get the less favorable practice time slots—it can be hard to motivate yourself to get into the pool at 10:45 p.m.” Trimmer also discussed the difference between club sports in college and high school sports. “I would say the UVM swim club doesn’t have as tight knit of a community as SW swim did, mostly because not everyone on the team attends practice every day or signs up for meets. However, if you’re regularly involved in your club sport, you’ll make good friends and maybe form a little community.” A favorite memory that Trimmer has from her time with the University of Vermont club swimming team is driving to a meet at UMass and singing along to ABBA. All in all, club sports can be a wonderful midpoint between intramural and collegiate. A team that still provides a community and competitions without a full time commitment. 

Connor Vana is a freshman at Western Washington University. They graduated from Shorewood last year and are currently playing tennis for their club team. Vana made sure to get involved early and had no problem doing so. “I knew I had wanted to play tennis, so I found the team at a club fair at the start of the year.. It was quick and easy and the members were excited to have people join,” he said. 

They say that playing on a club team has allowed them to “play the sport I love without a huge investment of money or time.” Vana said that club was a better fit for them than playing a more competitive 

level of tennis. “I chose the club because I’m not good or dedicated enough for a higher level of tennis. Western doesn’t have collegiate tennis, but regardless of what school I went to, I wouldn’t have been able to make the team. Club lets me play with people around my skill level in a relatively relaxed environment.” Playing club sports also allows you to travel and play competitively against different schools. Vana says,“My favorite memory is going to a tournament in Corvallis. We had a tough set of matches against Oregon State and UW, and it was really cool to play at that level!”