Three new club teams have started up this year with the help of SGA, including the flag football team and women’s club volleyball team, who will be going to nationals.
There is typically an average of 1 to 2 new club teams created per year at Augustana, so three new club teams before the end of the academic year is more than usual. Currently, there are 22 club teams.
The Student Government Association helps new clubs get started by creating a budget for each team. According to Richie Benson, junior and president in term of SGA, a main purpose of SGA is to help student groups or clubs that need funding.
“We’ve had a lot of club sports come this year, as well as kind of student groups in the making or starting a new fundraiser that’s not documented in our budget yet,” Benson said. “The women’s club basketball just started up again this year so they actually kind of came to us for a budget because Don didn’t have a budget.”
At 22 club teams, Augustana has more than most small private colleges in the surrounding area. St. Ambrose University has 10 club sports teams and Loras College has five, according to the colleges’ websites.
The women’s club basketball team is the newest club team this year, according to Don Umland, director of campus recreation.
“They are actually at the point where they’ve, you know, kind of got through their seasons of practicing and they’re now starting to play some local teams in competition,” he said.
The team will be playing St. Ambrose at home Sunday at 2 p.m.
The flag football intermural team has broken off into a women’s flag football team, who have been excelling this year locally and will be going to nationals.
“Our women’s has essentially evolved into a club team that practices—I wouldn’t say year round—but a significant portion of the year they actually do practice and then play other teams, and they go to the national tournament every year,” Umland said.
The women’s club volleyball is the first club team to start playing this year with local competition. They will be going to the national tournament with the men’s club volleyball team in Reno, Nev. in April.
Students can create a club team by proposing the idea to Umland and then proving to the Dean of Students Office that they have a minimum number of students willing to play, according to Umland.
The club team can then create a budget with SGA their first year, after they have club status. After the first year, budgets are created through Umland.