Club sports provide competitive, social experiences for students

University of Detroit Mercy’s University Recreation department hosts a variety of sports clubs that offer growth experiences for students whether they are beginners, competitive players, or anywhere in between.

The badminton club was just formed this year, and is open to interested students of any skill level. Members play year-round and do not participate in tournaments, as it is considered a social club.

For experienced players, the competitive clubs allow students to hone their skills and compete against other universities. There are the men’s and women’s volleyball clubs, which play in both fall and winter semesters. For tennis lovers, there is the co-ed tennis club, which also plays in the fall and winter.

“Our badminton club is a social club, so that’s more recreational based for people that have interest in badminton,” said Mike Wynn Jr., director of University Recreation. “They could come together and play twice a week with other students that have interest in badminton, or for those that never played badminton that would like to learn to have an opportunity to gather new skills and meet new people.”

Competitive clubs travel around Michigan to put their skills to the test against students from other universities, including University of Michigan, Michigan State, Grand Valley State and Wayne State. Currently, Detroit Mercy does not host tournaments for clubs, but may look to do so in the future.

These sports clubs are entirely student driven and feature a lot of member autonomy. Practices are planned and run by club presidents, and there is flexibility to make sure they do not interrupt studies.“We have five board members and two practices a week,” said JP Marvin, president of the tennis club and a junior studying Cybersecurity and Computer Science. “We have each other to rely on if one of us is busy. School comes first. Same thing with competitions, if we have work to do, we’ll stay back and someone else will go to the competition.”

New clubs can be founded by students with a passion for a sport. Marvin grew up playing tennis and developed a love for it.

“I’ve been playing since I was eight, and when I came here, there was no tennis club,” Marvin said. “I just wanted to continue playing competitively. Mike helped me out a lot. It wasn’t until my junior year until we started really traveling and got a lot of people to join the team.”

Both the social and competitive clubs offer experiences that challenge students, and help lay a foundation for personal and social growth.

“It’s definitely great for people to make friends, whether it’s socially or for those that want to compete,” Wynn Jr. said. “It allows students to have the opportunity to continue that sport that they are passionate about. It allows them to have something to do outside of the classroom, make new friends outside of the classroom, and have a lot of experience with the sport itself.”

University Recreation is eager to expand its offerings with new members and club ideas. Students interested in learning more about club sports at Detroit Mercy can contact Wynn Jr. at wynnmi@udmercy.edu, or by visiting University Recreation’s webpage.

 — By Marketing & Communications student intern James Whitener