By Baily Kruzan

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For many high school athletes, the dream of playing collegiately is just that, a dream. Less than 10% go on to play at the college level, and even fewer receive D1 scholarship offers. But what many student-athletes don’t know is their competitive careers don’t have to end when high school does.

From club sports to intramural programs, there are many unconventional paths student-athletes can take to continue playing the game they love. Competing collegiately at Utah State University runs much deeper than sanctioned NCAA athletics, with over 20 current teams formed, developed, governed, and managed by USU students in collaboration with the Campus Recreation department.

Whether it’s new clubs coming in or long-standing teams with state and national titles, these teams are driven by passionate students who simply want to continue playing a sport they love. Seth Gentry, a second-year physics student on campus, is currently working with the Handball Club to become an official competitive club sport team.

Gentry, who played various sports throughout high school, was first introduced to handball through his older brother. He then started taking a class during his first year at USU, and has been hooked ever since.

“Handball is different than traditional sports,” Gentry says, “The analytical part of the game is intriguing. Thinking about where to place the ball, its trajectory, and where it’s going. It combines everything from endurance to speed to strength.”

He hopes that by becoming a club sport, the team can continue to grow and find people who want to play and grow the community throughout Utah State, while also competing more often and at a higher level. Herm Olsen, a USU alum and past handball instructor, is also helping to facilitate the addition of handball to the club sport roster. With roots on campus going back to the 1980s, Olsen has worked hard to keep the sport of handball alive within the Aggie community and is excited for the potential growth of the team.

“We want to launch USU Handball into a whole different dimension than what we’ve had before,” Olsen states. “It’s a very exciting time for us as we have obtained club sport status and are very hopeful of receiving a significant donation in the coming months to further help the program grow and thrive into the future.”

TURNING PASSION INTO ACTION

For Kyra Hoctor, the life of being a club-sport athlete has looked a bit different. Stepping onto campus almost five years ago, she joined the already established figure skating team. Getting a feel for the team her freshman year, she didn’t know if she could grow the club, but she immediately saw potential and dove right in.

Hoctor became the club’s vice president during her second year, working hand in hand with the president before eventually taking on the role herself. From there, she’s worked with other officers to grow and push the team to new and exciting heights.

“During my sophomore year, I decided I wanted to try and host a competition here in Logan,” Hoctor remembers. “At the time, I got told it was really hard to do and was going to be a lot of work, and I kind of thought it might be impossible.”

Not letting the hard work and doubts stop her, Hoctor continued researching and talking to other clubs to see whether hosting a competition would be possible. During her senior year, she submitted a bid and crossed her fingers that it would be accepted. Ultimately, her time and effort paid off as team’s bid was accepted, and the first-ever regional competition was held in Cache Valley.

However, the time between the bid being accepted and the event itself is when the real fun began.

Unlike NCAA sanctioned sports, club sport teams are primarily run by the student officers. While each team varies, for Hoctor and figure skating, her role as president was to do a little bit of everything — especially when it came to planning this competition. She organized judges to fly in from local states, coordinating flight times, hotels, and shuttles. Teams were invited and the number of skaters they brought solidified. She also worked with the George S. Eccles Ice Center on rink scheduling and space needs.

“I would get there at 5 a.m., run the event as well as compete, then leave at 11 p.m. to be back again the next morning at 5 a.m.,” Hoctor recalls. “It was so much work, but so worth it.”

The Aggie Open, Pacific Coast Conference competition ran from February 7–9, 2025. It was the first event of its kind to come to the region with 19 total teams and roughly 225 skaters competing throughout the weekend. It also kickstarted another large competition, as the team co-hosted a Nationals qualifying event with the University of Utah in April.

“The growth of the figure skating team has meant everything to me,” Hoctor exclaims. “Looking back on college, my most fond moments aren’t from social aspects on campus. It’s going to be from the club.”

From four people at her first competition to 15 this last year, it shows just how much growth can happen when students push for more and turn their passion into action.

“This will be one of those things that you look back on and never forget and not have any regrets,” Hoctor says.

BEYOND THE CHAMP SHIRT

Drew Giel knows firsthand the places and experiences intramural sports can take you.

He arrived at Utah State in the fall of 2024, working as a graduate assistant in the competitive sports department at Campus Recreation. Due to unexpected staffing changes, Giel has been managing the entire Intramural Sports Program since the summer of 2025. It was during that time he got the inspiration to host a statewide intramural basketball tournament in Utah.

Having earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, he spent a lot of time both participating in and working in the intramural department. He also learned about Wisconsin’s large-scale intramural basketball tournament. Held each year, universities from around the state gather at a host site to compete and crown the ultimate intramural champion.

“It’s a really cool event and a unique thing that intramural teams get to experience,” Giel explains. “Our goal was to bring something unique like that to Utah.”

Working with the University of Utah, Weber State University, and Utah Valley University, it became a joint effort that was brought to life this past March at the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City. The State of Utah Hoops Classic hosted 11 total teams from across the Mountain West, welcoming teams from Colorado State, BYU-Idaho, UVU, Utah, and of course, Utah State.

“The competition was unreal,” Giel says. “The teams were really good, and 90% of the games were super close and competitive. Nothing like normal intramural games I have ever seen.”

In the women’s division, the Aggies brought home the gold, while BYU-Idaho emerged victorious in the men’s division.

“Competing in the Utah Hoops Classic was such an amazing experience,” exclaims Emma Bitner, a long-time USU Intramural participant and women’s team member. “Facing the team we had lost to earlier in a rematch and coming back stronger to win made the whole experience even more rewarding.”

In addition to providing a unique experience for players, the event also helped develop student officials at a higher level.

“Seeing our student staff get out of their comfort zones and ref with other schools or seeing our supervisors giving feedback to other students they didn’t know was really cool,” Giel says.

For students who may not want the commitment of practices and tournaments, intramurals curate a space for players of all levels to bond and continue to play throughout college.