Club sports are flourishing across campus with the start of a new school year at St. Edward’s University.

The broadened athletic opportunities available to the student body are due to a stronger Campus Recreation presence on campus.

“The presence of an established Campus Recreation program has led to the new development of club sports teams,” said Andy Lemons, coordinator of Campus Recreation. “Prior to 2010, club sports operated in limbo between Student Life and Athletics, with neither area fully prepared to handle Club Sports operations and give the clubs the attention competition.”

In addition to Club Swimming, Cultural Dance Club is another Club Sport option on campus. The Cultural Dance Club was founded in August 2010 by Daisy Garcia and Ayanna Smith.

“I was inspired to start the Cultural Dance Club with a friend of mine, Ayanna Smith, after attending my first involvement fair on campus and discovering that there were not any ‘cultural’ dance clubs on campus at the time,” said Daisy Garcia, junior president of the Cultural Dance Club. “We soon realized that we both had a long history of dance experience and decided to bring hip hop and belly dance together into one club where we could teach the students here at St. Edward’s about other force.”

Other club sports offered on campus include: Men’s Club Soccer, Women’s Club Soccer, Rugby Football Club, Men’s Lacrosse Club, Women’s Lacrosse Club, St. Edward’s Rowing Club, Cross Country, Dance Team, the Outdoor Adventure Club, Ultimate Congressmen (Frisbee), Bass Fishing, Wakeboarding, and Track.