Evangel University launches club sports including bass fishing, beach volleyball, disc golf
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This fall, Evangel University will offer club sports including bass fishing, beach volleyball, bowling, CrossFit and disc golf.
The offerings supplement existing varsity athletic teams and were designed to help more students get involved in athletic competition, according to a news release from Evangel.
The university is offering scholarships.
“Club sports offer a variety of opportunities for students to get involved, compete against other institutions, and proudly represent Valor nation,” said Kelly Richardson, Evangel's program coordinator for sport management and physical education. “This is just another example of how EU is working hard to enhance the student life experience here on campus.”
Evangel plans to add other club sports in the next two years: archery, axe throwing, cornhole, men’s volleyball, shotgun, spikeball, and three-on-three basketball.
According to the university, club sport teams will compete with other schools' teams but do not fall under Evangel's athletic conference and do not have varsity status.
More: Photos: Evangel University 2022 Commencement Ceremony
Club sport teams will be led by an athletic coach or by students with an Evangel adviser. To participate, students will have to meet standards of enrollment status, grade point average and community standing.
Richardson, who graduated from Evangel in 2005, was named the head volleyball coach at Southwest Baptist University in 2007. In 2014, she moved to NCAA Division I athletics by accepting the first assistant/recruiting coordinator volleyball position at the University of Texas at Arlington.
After a stint as head volleyball coach at Western Illinois University, she joined Evangel's kinesiology department in 2018.
She is a member of the Evangel Athletics Hall of Fame and the Willard High School Activities Hall of Fame.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Evangel launches club sports including bass fishing, beach volleyball
