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The Growth of Clubs by Nick R. Maentains Facility Management & Sport Clubs Graduate Assistant

Over the last academic year, sport clubs have seen a growth in participation. From the 2012-13 academic year to the 2013-14 academic year our sport clubs have grown from 29 to 36 clubs. New clubs include , Men’s and Women’s , Men’s and Women’s Soccer and a workout club named Sistas in Shape. Our new clubs are working tirelessly to become established sport clubs. Campus is constantly working with students who have a passion to start a club, but the students are the ones who fuel the passion for sport clubs. Along with an increase of clubs on campus we have seen more participation from students as well. From last school year to this one, our sport clubs have seen an increase of 178 students who participate in our 36 clubs. Our 2012-13 school year saw 515 sport club participants–which was a promising number– but this current school year saw even bigger numbers. This year we have 686 participants, which is a 2.17% increase in student participation. The hard work of our presidents and sport club participants is shining through and we are looking forward to continued growth in the future.

Sport Club Hall of Fame

This year, we are happy to announce that James McGovern will be inducted into the 2014 Sport Clubs Hall of Fame. James played midfield and attack for the Western University team from 2000-2004. He earned outstanding awards while being a member of the team including Rookie of the year (2000), Attackman of the year (2003), team MVP (2003), and was also named team captain. Not only was he an exceptional player during his time here, he was also the founder of Friends of WIU Lacrosse, a group organized to foster networking and career development opportunities between alumni and current students. The group hosted golf outings, alumni games and assisted with apparel sales. James now lives in Mount Prospect, IL with his wife Molly and dog Harvey. Running Club Running Towards Success

On the heels of a productive fall road racing season, the WIU Club Running team continues to grow in both size and competitiveness as it looks to the future. During the fall, club members took part in each campus-sponsored road race, including the Homecoming Old Stompin’ Ground Runaround 5k and the Fallen Soldiers 5k. At Fallen Soldiers, the club turned in four top-10 and five top-15 finishes. This included the overall race champion Ben Houston, club president, who set a new course record on his way to the win and a 2nd place finish by club vice president, Henry Cortes. On January 18th, the club made its collegiate track debut at the Illinois College Indoor Invitational where members turned in strong finishes in the distance events. This was Baseball Club followed by a club time trial held on campus in February and several road races throughout The WIU Men’s Baseball Club was formed March. The club competed at Knox College in the Fall of 2013. Our official first semester on March 29th where it finished 8th out of 9 of playing was the Spring of 2014. It started NCAA collegiate teams. The club also took off with a only a couple of guys who wanted part in WIU’s own Lee Calhoun Memorial to play, which eventually grew into a 15-man Invitational on April 11th and 12th, with roster. Our advisor for this club is Gabriel members running strong in the 10k, 5k, 800m Lara and he works at the Multicultural Center and steeplechase. located across from the Union. He is also The club continues to push for new the head of Casa Latina and LASO (Latin members, with both its recreational/fitness American Student Organization.) Our practice and competitive cross country and track schedule is Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 squads looking to grow. The club will host a p.m. and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at fundraiser later this spring in order to develop 3:30 p.m. We hope to host a Breast Cancer funds for future use, and plans are in the Awareness Tournament Fall of 2014. You can works for it to become a provisional member join next semester by contacting the current of the National Intercollegiate Running Club club president, Joshua Cano, or you can show Association (NIRCA) in the near future. up to the activities fair in the Fall of 2014 and sign up for our tryouts that will be hosted in 2014. Fishing Club The Western Illinois University Fishing Club is a club for competitive fisherman. We mainly fish for largemouth bass. There are currently 27 members in the club and we have 9 boats. Last year, our club sent 5 two-man teams to the Bassmasters Midwest Superregional. Out of those 5, we had two teams make it into the top 15 and qualify to go to nationals in Georgia. We also hosted smaller tournaments such as our Fathers Weekend Tournament at Schuy-Rush Lake. There are many people who come from the community to attend our fundraisers and they enjoy getting the chance to help us out.

Handball Club Off to a Great Start!

The Club team has played against other college teams such as ISU, which is nationally ranked 20th in the nation. Our team did a great job holding their own against ISU and UWM at our most recent tournament. We look forward to competing against both teams again on May 3rd in our own home tournament at 9:00 a.m. All three teams are pumped up and looking to put on a great show and a great . We are constantly looking for new members to come out and try the sport. We welcome everyone with open arms to come give it a shot. We are very capable of teaching the skills you need no matter what your experience, body type, gender, or coordination. We have players from all kinds of backgrounds and majors. We also have players just learning English as well. It’s a great group of people who make it a fun and great learning experience, and you will never be turned down.

We really look forward to May 3rd and are training for the event and encourage others to come check us out and cheer us on at the Student Recreation Center on our home court. We really hope for home court fan support in our big challenging games against ISU, who will be coming back from college nationals, and UWM. Both teams are our rivals and we really hope to excite everyone who comes to watch and help them find a new love in handball. Men’s Ice is back!

The WIU Ice Hockey team has finally come back from a two year hiatus. This spring’s primary focus was to get the club established, and to spread the word out to anyone who was interested in playing. The club has come a long way in these last few months. It now has 15 retaining players, and even more who are coming this fall. The Ice Hockey Club is proving to be one of the most dedicated clubs on campus; the players are currently traveling at least twice a week to the Owens Center in Peoria, Illinois, which is their home ice rink. To get some practice in before the fall, the club has been playing in the top division men’s league out of the Owens Center. This is helping the team get ready for the 20-plus game season in the fall when they will play in the MACHA Division 2 club hockey. They are improving with each game they play and are becoming more like a team. On top of that, the club has team workouts and strength training twice a week in order to stay active off the ice. Besides staying in the shape, the club is also trying to raise some money to help cut their costs. They’ve had a fund-raiser at Buffalo Wild Wings, which was helpful. They also had other donations from parents when the team was first established. By next year, they hope to prove that they can compete in the league and continue to build the club up from the bottom. Equestrian Club This spring the Equestrian Club at WIU has been very active. The club has two show teams–Western and Hunt (English). The Western team has competed at Black Hawk College and at Regionals at Missouri State University this semester. The team brought home many placings and did a great job of showing. Also, this semester the club has had several fundraisers. They had a booth at the Ag Mech show where they sold popcorn and baked goods. The club also held their annual Spring Equestrian Experience on April 5th at Swan Creek Stables in Avon, IL. We had a bunch of games for kids, and all age groups were welcome out for lead line rides on the horses the club uses for their practices. This is the largest fundraiser the club does each semester and all the money helps the club so that they can do all the activities throughout the year and also helps them participate in horse shows. The club also has their first Pie an Equestrian fundraiser coming up in the next couple weeks so people on campus can pie one of the members in the face for just $1. They are very excited to do this new fundraiser. They look forward to next semester as well to start with more shows and fun activities. Water

This year was another good year for Western’s Club. We did face some common seasonal issues with retention, but those that stuck around were outstanding polo players. We didn’t perform amazingly in the Missouri Valley Conference, but we won the tournament at Southern Illinois University in the spring. I’m excited to see just how far our players progress in the coming years. Otherwise, it was a great year for some of our freshmen players. We received an outstanding goalie who blocks everything that’s thrown at him. Our other freshmen Dan Sullivan is an amazing field player. He has a nearly unparalleled reach in the pool and knows the game inside and out. Our final freshmen addition, Adam Geiger, is completely new to swimming and water polo but has taken to the water amazingly well. He has an affinity for team sports and knows what needs to be done to succeed. Our other players are equally as valuable assets to the team. Thankfully we won’t be losing many players this year to graduation, so I am excited to see what they can do next year. Paintball Club Leatherneck Paintball back with WIU Sport Clubs After one dormant season, the Western Illinois University fighting leathernecks are back out on the paintball field. The team has spent the last year recruiting players, re- claiming a regular practice schedule, and getting their name out there to the rest of the student body. “A lot of students on this campus are completely unaware that WIU has a competitive paintball team, and it takes Men’s Basketball a little time and effort to rebuild and get ourselves out there to all of the students that Club we represent at our tournaments,” says team president, Nick Raschke. The team has put in New Year, New Changes effort with the Pie-A-Paintballer fundraiser, as well as organizing a paintball outing to get The Men’s Club Basketball team had a very other students on Western Illinois University’s inspirational and successful season, both in the campus introduced to the sport. The team fall and spring semesters. After being dormant plans to continue the WIU paintball outing for almost ten years, the team was resurrected as an annual event. The team is currently and held tryouts in the early part of the fall playing in a tournament series as the WIU semester. An original team of 13 was put Leathernecks at Pekin Paintball, in Peoria together and we began having practices right Illinois. The first tournament of the series took away. We shocked everyone by introducing a place on March 22nd, and the team placed female coach, something that is almost unheard 11th out of the 20 teams in the series. They of in men’s sports. We traveled to a number of play their second event on April 19th, and they different schools in the quad city area enjoying hope their hard work and determination will a good amount of success and defeating the help them bring home the gold for yet another # 2 team in the nation (Butler University) for WIU Sport Club. the championship at the University of Butler tournament. Once spring semester came around, we had new leadership in place and a few new members added to the team. We enjoyed large amounts of success finishing 2nd at the University of Missouri state tournament, and getting 4th in regionals at the University of Purdue tournament. Next season the team will look to add to the large amount of success that was established this year and will hopefully get the opportunity to play for the national championship.