By Sofia Wright – Staff Writer
In intercollegiate club sports, there are no athletic scholarships, no adoring crowds and minimal administrative assistance.
These are not intramural sports.
Intercollegiate club sports encompass extremely competitive, highly skilled teams that often belong to regional conferences and play for national collegiate championships.
San Jose State has 16 NCAA Division I sports, 25 club sports and 30 club teams. Among the most successful club programs at SJSU is ice hockey.
“We have a solid group of committed guys here,” senior forward Kevin Scott said. “I think that everybody is on the same page to step it up and make this a better program as far as the marketing and just trying to move it to a D-I club in the future.”
In 2008, there were an estimated two million students participating in club sports compared to 430,000 playing in NCAA and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics sanctioned sports.
Just down the street from the university, at the corner of 10th and Alma, sits Solar4America Ice where the San Jose Sharks practice and an intercollegiate club team calls home.
With games starting in the late hours of the night, sometimes not leaving until almost midnight, the SJSU Ice Hockey team plays on.
Club sports have the elements of other college sports, but are not regulated by the NCAA or NAIA.
This means that they are almost entirely paid for by students through student fees and fundraising, generally from $50 up to $1,500 for sports like ice hockey.
Even after defeating fellow PAC-8 teams like USC, UCLA and Washington State, SJSU to skate under the radar.
But that is about to change.
Their 2019 season started off slow, but they have since climbed their way up to 8-6-1 overall and 5-5 in conference play.
Though home ice isn’t far, the team has bussed up and down the state. Coming up on the schedule, the team will travel to Las Vegas to play the University of Cincinnati, Northern Arizona and Cal.
“Winston [Adams], our general manager, does a really good job of promoting the team,” Scott said regarding the program’s logistics. “He always has an itinerary for us … we always know where we’re supposed to be at every single time in the day.”
Adams played two seasons with the Spartans from 2013 to 2015.
He served as president and captain both years he played, and after graduating he continued his dedication to the team by becoming the general manager.
Along with Adams, Scott has helped with marketing the team, specifically graphics on their social media.
The team also has players in officer roles, which helps them allocate tasks that need to be done off the ice.
“There’s a lot of sacrifice and a lot of feistiness in all the boys, and it’s awesome to play for,” senior defenseman William Hoffman said. “Having that kind of comradery is huge and it’s something special that we haven’t had in the last two or three years since I started.”
The team has their stint in Vegas and back-to-back games in Oregon to close out the season, and will come back home to Solar4America Ice in mid-January.
Follow Sofia on Twitter @sofiagwright