Club sports on tap at Cal Poly

From gutter balls to field hockey balls; foils and scrums; pelotons and steer wrestling – Cal Poly club sports sample some of the most unconventional and misunderstood sports.

There are more than 15 different sports clubs at Cal Poly, ranging from the seldom-hyped bowling to the complex and aggressive rugby.

Head coach Nick Massman said the rugby club has over 50 players. The club has three divisions or sides that are based on skill level and the amount of experience a player might have, he said.

The members practice on average six days a week and have up to three games in a weekend.

“We practice our rugby skills twice a week,” Massman said. “We work out on fitness training four days a week.”

The club made it to the Elite Eight in the national tournament this year and finished ranked No. 6 in U.S. collegiate club ranks.

The club participates in the Southern California League. The winner of the league gets the title and moves on to play in the Sweet 16, which is similar to basketball, Massman said.

The season starts in October and ends in April. Massman said that last weekend was the end of the season.

There will be a couple of pick-up games throughout the year. He said that a team from Wales will be visiting and will play against the Cal Poly rugby sports club some time in May.

Massman said that with the success of the men’s team, he is trying to get a women’s team started.

The hardest part of rugby isn’t the intense training, but trying to find a place to work out and practice. Massman said it can be quite a battle to try and find a field to practice on or place to condition.

The bowling sports club currently has eight members and practices twice a week at Mustang Lanes or Pismo Bowl. Anadilla is the bowling team captain and a senior in industrial engineering.

The team finished 57th out of 175 teams; the goal was to finish in the top 25 percent of all tournaments, Anadilla said.

All bowlers on the team made it a personal goal to average over 200 for the season, Anadilla said. All team members were successful this year.

Bowling can be done as recreation or in competition. Anyone can play the sport but to learn how to master the sport one must practice a great deal and study.

The women’s lacrosse club has over 40 players, 18 play on the Division I team and 28 on the Division II team, Meryl Rodgers said. Rodgers is the president and captain of the team. She is also a senior in business administration.

The team plays all through out the school year but officially competes in the winter and spring. The team just won a league championship. It will go on to nationals in May.

Practicing five days a week for two hours a day will help the team to is goal of winning a sixth straight national championship.

The men’s lacrosse club currently has 38 members and practices Tuesday through Friday. Each practice lasts for several hours, said Brian Kelly president and senior in construction management.

The lacrosse season runs from January through May. The team is currently ranked No. 11 in the nation. The team will compete in the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League Final Four that takes place the last weekend in April. The team’s goal is to win the league and go on to win a national championship.

Kelly said that the physical aspect of the game combined with speed makes lacrosse a great game to play and watch. Lacrosse has been called “the fastest game on two feet,” he said.

The roller hockey sports club practices three times a week, said Patrick Moyer, president of the club. There are 33 members broken into 11 A-team members and 22 B-team members.

Moyer, a construction management senior, said the A-team is placed 10th in the nation and the two B-team placed first and second in their league.

Some upcoming events for the roller hockey club are games against rival Santa Barbara and a game between the A-team and one of the B-teams.

The sport goes throughout a good portion of the year, starting with tryouts in October all the way to nationals in April.

Cal Poly offers a wide variety of sports clubs and for more information on these clubs or others check out the Web site, www.asi.calpoly.edu/csp/sportsclubs/.