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A club sport is a student organization formed by students with a common interest and desire to participate in a specific sport or activity. Club sports are not regulated by the NCAA and do not include intercollegiate or varsity sports. Some clubs can be highly competitive and compete in conferences and leagues with other colleges and universities while others may be instructional or recreational in nature. The Club Sports Program is designed to promote and develop the interests and skills of individuals in different sports or recreational activities. The program provides competitive, instructional and recreational activities for students, faculty and staff. The program emphasizes student leadership development, a sense of community and provides fun and enjoyment to supplement the college experience.  

Competitive

• Competitive clubs compete against outside competition, usually other collegiate clubs, as part of a structured regional or national league.
• Competitive club sports must be part of a National Governing Body or Association.
• They may have recruited members or a tryout process to become a member.
• They may have coaches, will travel to compete off-campus, and conduct regularly scheduled practices.
• Competitive club sports may also involve a greater financial commitment and time commitment, both in number of days per week and a longer period for the season.

Recreational

• Focus more on the instructional aspects and recreational play of the sport or nature of the club they are associated with.
• They present a social interaction and less competitive environment. Little to no travel is involved and often recreational clubs may only meet one or two times a week.

Other than the pure enjoyment of the sport or the thrill of competition; sport clubs offer essential lifelong learning skills in organization, management, budget planning, leadership as well as many other transferable skills for your careers after college.

All the contact information for each club sport is listed on our website.  We recommend reaching out to the contact person(s) to get more information and let them know if you are interested.  You can find out what you need to do to become part of the club sport team.

While some club sports have coaches, most are completely student-driven with advisement from coaches, advisers, and the Club Sports Director. Club sports are unique sports entities because all of the organizational duties are performed by the student leaders and are self-managed through a team of student officers with positions including President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, etc. Club sports prepare their own budgets, with the assistance of the Club Sports Director as needed; schedule their own practices and games, and may hire their own coaches/instructors with the approval of the Club Sports Director.

Some competitive traveling clubs have try-outs and others have an open membership. Competitive traveling clubs that have tryouts may have limitations on roster size imposed by conference or governing body rules.

Most clubs have some sort of participation fees, require fundraising time by members and/or solicit sponsorship or donations to assist with the clubs’ budget. A limited amount of funds are allocated annually to assist the clubs’ reach their goals, but most of clubs’ finances come through dues, fundraising or sponsorship/donations.

Any student organization may be started through the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) process. Once a club is approved by CSI, leaders may seek club sport status by filling out a and submitting it to Jim Underwood, Associate Director of Competitive Sports, at junderw3@kent.edu.

The Club Sports Director reserves the right to deny application which is determined to be of high risk to participants, may pose negative publicity to the club sports program, may not serve the interests of the department, may conflict with similar programs offered, may not be financially self-sufficient, or would place an unnecessary stress on other programs currently offered by Recreation and Wellness Services.