DAVID HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff The UCLA
women’s crew team practices in the early morning last winter
in Marina Del Ray. Club sports have been thriving on campus.
By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCLA is quite renowned for its NCAA athletic programs. But what
do you do if you love to play a sport, but just aren’t
Division I material?
Join a club sports program, of course.
Organized through the John Wooden Center’s Recreation
department, students can join one of 18 teams or even start one of
their own. Victoria Bonnahan from the women’s lacrosse team
explains the advantages of getting involved with club sports.
“I have made so many great friends through my team.
Playing lacrosse has made UCLA a lot smaller. Club sports are a
great way to find a niche in such a big school.”
While some teams are coed, in other sports UCLA offers a
men’s and women’s squad. Each team is run by the
players and coaches who decide when to practice and what
tournaments to attend. Some teams travel as far as Hawaii to
compete.
Below is a sampling of some of UCLA’s club sports.
Badminton
www.geocities.com/colosseum/loge/9675
Badminton is entering its fifth season as a club sport at UCLA.
A member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Badminton
League, the team boasted 30 members last year. Throughout the year,
the badminton team competes against UCI, UCSD, USC, Cal Poly SLO
and CalTech. Last year, the SCIBL finals were held in Pardee Gym
and UCLA took home second place behind first-place UCI.
Field Hockey
www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/fieldhockey
More popular on the East Coast, the UCLA field hockey team not
only competes against other schools but also works to spread
interest in their sport and someday achieve NCAA status. Started in
1998, the team plays their regular season on weekends in the fall
and again in the spring
Ice Hockey
www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/icehockey
Ice hockey is one of the more popular club teams at UCLA. Last
season they finished second in the Pac-8 and ranked No. 7 in the
ACHA Western Region. Head coach Daryl Evans has taken the team from
a last place finish in 1997 to a 1999 championship title and the
team is once again poised for a title run. With their 2000-01
season schedule already finalized, the Bruins will be playing old
rivals Stanford and Washington as well as top teams such as No 3
Weber State and No. 4 San Jose.
Lacrosse
www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/lacrosse
Lacrosse is one sport with both a men’s and women’s
squad. The men’s team is led by head coach Mike Allan
(Princeton ’95-’98) and defensive coach Wes Radulovich.
The team ended last season 10-4 overall and 4-2 in their
division.
Rugby
www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/rugby
Preseason games begin in the fall. Competition against lower
caliber teams allows UCLA to ease into the regular season, which
runs through the winter and spring quarters. UCLA is in the SCRFU
conference and plays annual matches against UCSB, Arizona, Arizona
State, Long Beach State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, USD and San
Diego State.
Shooting
www.bol.ucla.edu/%7Eshooting/club.html
After a 15-year absence, the UCLA Shooting Club was
re-established in 1989 and received full recognition two years
later as a campus club.
UCLA has sent shooters to the Intercollegiate National
Championships every year since 1994. Often, UCLA is the only
non-military team at the Nationals. In the past five years, the
Bruins have brought home two individual National Championship
titles, and have had four Intercollegiate All American awards,
which is impressive considering the team only requires four hours
of practice a week.
Ultimate Frisbee
www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/smaug/
The men’s ultimate frisbee team began in 1995 and has been
ranked as high as 35th in the nation. With practices during the
week on the Intramural field, the team takes weekend trips to other
colleges such as UCSB and UCSD to compete in tournaments.
Water Polo
www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/waterpolo
Fall 1999 was the first season UCLA has been a member of the
Collegiate Water Polo Association, and they finished with an
impressive fourth place ranking. This season practice starts zero
week and the club national championships will be held on Nov. 17-19
in Washington.
There are still many more club teams at UCLA, including bowling,
cycling, crew, fencing, gymnastics, sailing, snow skiing, surfing,
waterskiing and windsurfing. For more information, please contact
the club sports office in the Wooden Center at 825-7301.