The Club Sports program competes locally and nationally on tight budgets with minimal support from the school, all for the chance to wear gold or hold a trophy while standing in green and yellow. But the Emerald does not write so much about these sports, so I will.
One example, from close to home: The Crew team is good. We are proud of our accomplishments and our commitment to our sport. Our fall season has been extraordinary, especially for a program of our size. The Head of the Charles Regatta calls itself “The biggest two-day race in the world,” and rowers strive to compete at this race, held annually on the Charles River dividing Boston and Cambridge, Mass. The boathouses that line the river symbolize the history and prestige of the sport. The attendance for the regatta adds 200,000 people to the Boston population for one weekend a year, where spectators total half a million. This year, we were there.
The women’s varsity four boat (four rowers and a coxswain, the navigator and “coach in the boat”) received a lottery entry in the Club Fours event. We had no reputation, no previous standing, and no expectations. In a race based on times, we came in fifth. Over a 15 minute course, we were 15 seconds off of first place, and a mere 0.07 seconds from the boat in fourth. We were proud. We still are.
I was interviewed about our Boston success, but I assume it was deemed “old news” as it was never published. I can only assume our upcoming race is not worthy of the Emerald’s time or space, either. In a school of over 20,000 students, there are 40 Club Sports who receive minimal coverage in a campus paper that reports on school activities. A staff of four reporters covers 15 D-I sports while one, maybe two, freelance reporters pick up a Club Sports story every now and then. Across the program, we train, practice, win, lose, celebrate, rethink and enjoy ourselves on a daily basis because we want to compete for the University of Oregon in the most accessible way we can. If only the Emerald, the most accessible way for students to find out information about their school, recognized this.

Laura Breedlove is UO Club Sports Crew Head Coordinator and Coxswain