Spring break will not be full of relaxation for several club sports teams.
Crew, cycling and women’s water polo will all be keeping busy while most of the student body is taking a breather.
Crew will depart for San Diego on Friday for spring training. The Ducks will take part in two-a-day practices from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Mission Bay.
“I can’t wait,” student coordinator Sarah Higginbotham said. “We get to go down where the sun is shining. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
The Ducks will travel by van, towing their eight and four-person shells. After a one-night-stop in the Bay Area, the Ducks will head to the Marine Corps Recruitment Depot, where they will stay for the remainder of the trip. There is a possibility the Ducks will scrimmage against California-San Diego.
Right after crew heads for the Golden State, club cycling will start the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference season Saturday in Corvallis with the Oregon State Omnium.
“(An omnium) is kind of like NASCAR for bikes,” student coordinator Brad Ritter said.
The following weekend, the Ducks will host the Oregon Omnium.
The same weekend, the women’s club water polo team will participate in a tournament at Cal Poly.
“It’s going to be a good experience,” head coach Jeff Lee said. “We’ll go against some good teams.”
The tournament will be for experience only as the Ducks work toward the national tournament. They finished first in Northwest Regional Seeding Tournament last weekend. The Ducks defeated rival Washington 11-2 and had only seven goals scored on them during the entire tournament.
“Our defense was key,” Lee said.
The men’s club volleyball team won’t be doing anything over the break, but put on an impressive show last weekend by winning the first tournament it ever hosted.
The Ducks won the Northwest Collegiate Classic, which featured Washington, Washington State, Western Washington, Oregon State, Lane Community College and Oregon. The Ducks defeated the LCC Titans in the championship game 25-17 and 25-19.
“It was definitely a learning experience,” student coordinator Levi McClain said. “We were pretty impressed with how it went.”
The Ducks have a goal of hosting next year’s regional tournament at McArthur Court. They also placed third in a tournament at Washington State and second in a tournament in Walla Walla, Wash.