The bright sun reflects off the fresh powder at Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort. As you click into your skis, you see your friends waving over to you. They’re ready to shred the slopes and you can’t wait to try skiing in Oregon for the first time.
These are the kinds of moments UP students can experience in the ski & snowboard club, which encourages all students to hit the mountain. However, more UP sports clubs are on a mission to make sports more accessible to students, like the tennis club and ski & snowboard club, which have restarted under new leadership, and the golf club, which was established last semester.
These clubs are working with professionals and administrators in their sports to create fun and cost-friendly opportunities for students.
Golf club
Charlie Ma, co-president of the golf club and golf enthusiast, co-founded the club this year so that students could find new friendships and connections through the sport. Ma encourages students to come together to create a bigger golf community at UP.
“UP does not have any golfing programs going on right now and I found out that we have so many students here who like to play golf,” Ma said. “We just need a golfing environment and we [want] to try to create a golfing community.”
The golf club doesn’t hold weekly practices. Instead, co-president Jonas Harron says they’re working with several golf courses to offer students discounts to courses and ranges around Portland.
“We’re working with some courses locally to try and get us cheap rounds…” Harron said. “A lot of people either don’t have the money or the avenue to play golf. We want to establish a place where everyone can feel like a community…”
Their goal to make the sport more financially accessible for students, like Harron said, is also reflected in their attempt to provide gear and equipment for all of its members.
“We have one backup set…” Harron said. “And I’m more than happy for someone to just use my clubs if we go play nine. I think everyone else agrees. Having access to clubs is something we want to make sure people have so that it’s not a barrier of entry.”
For the more competitive and advanced members, there are many opportunities for the clubs to compete in more competitive leagues and tournaments if they can get more funding.
“We can go to tournaments and play different schools, but it will take some establishing…” Harron said. “Given the fact that we are a new club, we don’t have much money, heritage or as many active members as other clubs, our funding [is] limited from the school.”
To get involved with the golf club, students can join their Engage to be notified of any upcoming opportunities to play golf.
A member of the tennis club goes for a backhand swing during practice.
Tennis club
The tennis club already has many active members and has established a competitive side, where members attend tournaments and compete against other universities. It has been under new management since the old leadership team graduated. Seniors Marshall Zhang and JoAnn Lee have been club members since their first year at UP.
The club aims to build camaraderie by practicing and attending tournaments. Zhang, the club’s president, says that team bonding is an important aspect of the club's identity.
“During our practices, we try to involve everyone,” Zhang said. “Towards the end of practice, we have a game with everyone together. On top of that, we have tournaments, and in my experience, tournaments are the best way to get to know each other.”
Funding is also a major issue for the tennis club, as equipment, travel and tournaments can be expensive. To combat this hardship, the club is planning to organize and host a tournament fundraiser to help advance its community to the next level.
“We’re hoping to fundraise so that we can provide food after tournaments, make club shirts and give back to the club,” Zhang said.
Despite funding difficulties, Lee, the club’s VP, said they have found ways to help students who want to participate but might not have the proper equipment.
“[We] definitely want to make tennis more accessible…” Lee said. “So far, we only had enough funding to buy five rackets, so we have five loaner rackets, but we’re hoping to get more.”
Interested students can join the UP tennis club through their Engage and can follow their Instagram page to be notified of any upcoming practices, tournaments or events.
Members of the ski & snowboard club pose for a photo before heading up the mountain. Photo courtesy of Caylei Haider.
Ski & snowboard club
When ski & snowboard club President Caylei Haider took over this year, the club had been dormant for the past two years due to leadership and organizational difficulties. Haider was the president of her high school ski & snowboard club and was nominated and elected by the UP ski & snowboard club advising committee and club members.
Although the ski & snowboard club isn’t able to practice weekly like the tennis club, Haider says they plan to bond with each other by taking as many trips to the Oregon mountains as possible during the ski season.
“Hopefully, we [can] take a lot of trips up to the mountain [where] we can hang out and do some small parties or something to get more team bonding…” Haider said. “We’re open to all students; there are no tryouts, and anybody can come.”
Ski & snowboard club currently has two trips planned to Mount Hood Meadows this Spring: one on Feb. 8 and another on March 15. They will provide transportation to the mountain and hand out 15 prepaid lift ticket vouchers per trip to members who need financial help.
The ski & snowboard club hopes to raise more money to provide additional rental equipment, more lift ticket vouchers and transportation to the mountains.
The tennis club, golf club and ski & snowboard club continue to work hard to give the students of UP an outlet away from the social and academic pressures of college. If you’re not too busy, why not try your hand, or your backhand, at one of these club sports?
Aidan Hyde is a sports reporter at The Beacon. He can be reached at hyde25@up.edu.
