Sure, we have intercollegiate teams at URI. But that’s not the only way to participate in your favorite sport and compete on a national level. We have 15 other fun and challenging ways to keep your competitive athletic fires burning.
We’re talking about the 15 men’s and women’s club sports—from equestrian and ultimate frisbee to ice hockey and roller hockey—that involve more than 400 student-athletes. Many of our club sports are regionally and nationally ranked, so much so that Rhody club sport athletes have graduated to the U.S. Olympic rowing and sailing teams, the men’s U.S. national rugby team, and Team USA for the men’s and women’s hockey squads at the World University Games. At URI, our club sports are big.
How about playing for men’s ice hockey coach Joe Augustine, who’s won more than 500 games in his career and a Division 1 national club title, and has coached Team USA in the World University Games? Or take the ice with women’s hockey coach Beth McCann, whose 2012-2013 squad was ranked first in the country during the regular season among all Division 1 club teams—and who has guided the Rams to eight titles in the 10 years of the Eastern Collegiate Women’s Hockey League.
We’re talking about the 15 men’s and women’s club sports—from equestrian and ultimate frisbee to ice hockey and roller hockey—that involve more than 400 student-athletes. At URI, our club sports are big.
If water’s your thing, prepare to compete on one of URI’s most successful teams, varsity or otherwise. Two years ago, a five-member women’s sailing team hoisted the trophy as the winner of Sperry Top-Sider/Intercollegiate Sailing Association Women’s National Championship. Men’s sailing has won 11 national keelboat titles. And the program counts among its alumni several Olympians and 26 All-Americans. Then there’s men’s crew, coached by alumnus Bob Gillette, a URI graduate who’s guided many Olympic and college rowers, and coached numerous U.S. national rowing teams.
For a little grass under your feet, URI’s co-ed field hockey team has qualified for the national club tourney for the past two years all under the direction of its student captains. That’s right, there’s no coach, but the women who run the program say they learn important lessons about management, team building, fund-raising and transportation planning. Another student-led winning team is women’s lacrosse, the 2012 league champion and fourth-place finisher at nationals in Colorado Springs. Men’s lacrosse is also always a strong competitor in the Pioneer Collegiate Lacrosse League.
Here’s a rundown of our remaining club sports and some snippets about some of their successes:
- Our coed equestrian team is regularly ranked in the top 10 regionally, and in 2012-13, captured first place in Region 1 and qualified for the next stage in the national playoffs.
- Women’s gymnastics were the 2010 co-winners of the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs championship, defeating 58 other teams at the club national championship at Texas State University. They posted top four finishes at nationals in 2011 and 2012 and third place in 2013 in Minneapolis.
- Men’s roller hockey (inline hockey) was a national finalist in 2007, and coaches Dan Leonard ‘02 and Corey Allard ‘02 were named the 2012-13 Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association Coaches of the Year.
- Men’s rugby was the New England Rugby Football Union league runner-up in 2012, while women’s rugby won the Beast of the East Division 2 title in 2012, and has since moved up to New England Division I status. The women were also the 2013 league runners-up.
- Men’s swimming won the East Coast Collegiate Division 1 Swim & Dive Club National Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in 2011, and has had top 10 finishes at nationals in 2012 and 2013.
- Both men’s and women’s ultimate teams qualified for the regional championships at Dartmouth College in 2013.
- Men’s volleyball was national runner-up at the 2011 National Collegiate Volleyball Federal National Championships and had strong showings at the 2012 and 2013 national championships.