Club sports gearing up

These club sports are also gearing up for the fall:

Men’s Lacrosse

The VCU men’s lacrosse team has been practicing since late August, and while the game schedule is still in the works, the date of the first game is set for October 27th against William & Mary.

Darrell “D.C.” Cason, affectionately dubbed “coach” by coach Adam Cohen, said, “it’s hard being in a sports club. You don’t get the numbers you want all the time because of classes and schedule conflicts.”

Adam Cohen explained that his role as coach is simply to provide direction, and that the team really belongs to the players. He jokingly mentioned being the babysitter down on the Cary Street Field.

The men’s lacrosse team meets every Tuesday and Wednesday night at 10 p.m. for practices, and had their first mandatory meeting Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Swimming

The swim team began practicing one week ago, and vice president Rachel Parnell said “turnout is already getting better than last year.”

The club hasn’t yet collected dues and paperwork, and is still recruiting and accepting new members.

Parnell indicated that a lot of people came out to the interest meetings, but so far the numbers aren’t as high as what the team needs.

The swim club currently has a roster of 20 active members and is aiming for 30 people.

Still, it is a leap from last year’s seven active members, and they continue to get e-mails every week from people who are interested in joining.

“A lot of people think it’s harder than it actually is,” Parnell said. Some people worry they’re out of shape so they’re nervous about coming out, but they shouldn’t be.”

The first swim meet is an intramural meet set for the middle of October, pending advertising verification with recreational sports.

A meet with U.Va. is officially set for Oct. 21.

Crew

The crew team is about to get serious, and has been practicing since Tuesday, Sept. 5. They held their first meeting two weeks ago, and another on Wednesday night. The crew club is currently sporting between 40 and 50 members, and will continue recruiting until Friday.

Rachel Parnell, an officer for the crew team, said, it’s difficult, and it’s a team sport. Crew is a team thing, and if you’re not part of the team, you’re not going to do very well.”

The first regatta is on October 14th at Occoquan in Northern Virginia. If you are interested in crew, e-mail vcucaptains@hotmail.com

before Friday.

Ice Hockey

The Rams ice hockey team held tryouts last weekend and their first practice is Thursday, Sept. 21.

Junior hockey player Jared Barber reported an abundance of goalies at the tryouts, commenting that roughly half the team would consist of returning players, and half of them are new.

The Rams made the playoffs last year, and are aiming to do it again to make further progress.

Coach Sean Gulla said “we’d like to make it into the playoffs and win at least one playoff game, but I think the goal from here on out is to keep getting better and better.” The first game of the season will be held on Sept. 23 at U.Va.

Whitewater

The whitewater team held its first meeting two weeks ago, and held a second meeting this week.

Team WAV – Whitewater at VCU – has plans to go boating in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, but has professional and semi-professional members from all around the world. Its members have experiences in locations such as Norway, Equador, Guatemala and Australia, to name a few.

The club does a lot of paddling around Richmond, too, said president Hunter Davis. “A lot of clubs aren’t that close, but the boating community is a pretty tight-knit group. We’re all pretty close to each other and we’re all friends.”

On Saturday, August 23rd there will be a big gathering of boaters near Summersville, W.V. on Gauley River.

The difficulty scale is based on a scale of one to six, and the Gauley River has class four and five rapids.

The skill level required of Team WAV is above average, and Davis emphasized the importance of knowledgeable members within the team, indicating it is not a teaching club, but something for experienced, willing people to engage in together. It’s not completely shut off from new members, however.

“If you’re a boater and you come into Richmond, we either know you or don’t know you and try to get you into our club,” Davis said.

The club stays relatively active, too, with someone from the team kayaking pretty much every single day.

The club does act as a whole during larger gatherings, but the primary function of the group is that of a meeting point or matchmaker, keeping the boaters in touch so that they may arrange individual trips.

Baseball

The club baseball team held their first practice Saturday.

Junior Paul Sockwell will be playing for the Rams this year and he said, “The team was nice. We should be better than last year, because we have superstars.”

“Will Rogers stood out,” he said. “He didn’t even have to hit – he had everybody amazed at his throwing and he was pitching some heat.”

They are still getting the game schedule together, but by the first week of October exhibition matches start up with the National Club Baseball Association league. The Rams will be playing in the same conference as such teams as Radford, William & Mary, Washington and Lee, U.Va., JMU, and Virginia Tech.