UH Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club, Archery Club and Volleyball Club 

With over 30 sport clubs offered at Campus Recreation, UH students have a plethora of activities to delve into. Even if a specific sport club does not currently exist, with enough effort, new sport clubs, like golf and fencing this previous semester, can gain traction quickly.

It is no doubt that sport clubs play an important part in Campus Recreation, but it might be in ways that might surprise people.

Hanley Koh, treasurer for the UH Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club, initially only joined the club because: “I hate doing cardio; BJJ is better then doing that.” Little did he know this decision would lead him to finding a community that would last his entire college career.

“I just love doing what I do when I come here,” Koh said. “I love the community. There are no better people than the people I roll with today.”

Koh’s experience isn’t an isolated one, as UH men’s volleyball sport club Carson Osterlund found his community beyond the city of Houston.

“I’ve gained a lot of friends from other schools from traveling with the club,” Osterlund said. “I go hang out with them and we build this healthy environment. We even find more fans of the sport.”

Many sport clubs have the opportunity to travel for many of their competitions, events, etc. These competitions can range from friendly matches with local schools to national tournaments crowning the best in the nation.

With these experiences in abundance, students are constantly being challenged through competition and growing not only in their sport, but also finding their identity.

“I’ve learned a lot about how to help others, specifically coach,” Osterlund said. “This is very much a family environment. Everyone is kind and sweet, it’s awesome. I feel like this sport club is important to me because it helped me become a better person.”

Even though sport clubs revolve around the sport itself, some students simply use sport clubs as a way to become involved.

“I don’t typically do sports,” Cougar Archery Member Percivical Yarde said. “When I saw it, I thought to myself, I always wanted to try archery, so why not.”

Yarde attended Cat’s Back last fall and happen to see a trifold promoting the sport club. This decision to give sport clubs a try led her to memories with an entirely new group of people she had never met before.

We’ve done roller skating, ice skating we even went to Ren Faire,” Yarde said. “I got a lot more friends and a lot more opportunities to do things that I’ve always wanted to do. Funny enough, a lot of the people here have similar interests to me.”

It only took one semester for Yarde, a freshman, to find her home at UH and it was through sport clubs. It can be daunting for students to put themselves out there, but sport clubs are a way to explore a new activity with a new community that will embrace every student on campus.

“It gives me a chance to take a break from all of the schoolwork and have fun with a group of people that also enjoy and share similar interests as I do,” Yarde said.