CSULB Archery Club

     The Archery Club was established in 1962.  CSULB has the longest continuous operating collegiate archery program in the United States.  They have been competing at the state, regional, and national level for over 40 years.  Seventeen archers from the program have been named as All American Collegiate Archers, which is the highest honor for collegiate archers in the nation.

     The Archery club is open to everyone, even allowing non students to join.  All aspects of the club are available to them, except they are not eligible to be selected for competitions.  The club is also one of the few which requires no prior experience and they provide tutelage through veteran members and the coaching staff.  The club also offers all equipment needed.  This allows a larger range of members to participate.

     The team competes in both indoor and outdoor competitions along with 75 other colleges and universities across the nation.  In a recent event, CSULB ranked in the top five in both men's and women's compound and finished first in the women's recurve.  The team has a limited number of spots and members must qualify to fill them, providing the highest level of competitive spirits possible.
  
Photos courtesy of CSULB Archery

CSULB Crew Team, Women's side

            The CSULB Women’s Crew team has had a hard life.  “Its hard to get girls to join a team when they think they will only get ‘big muscles’,” said Pamela Van Diepen, one of the teams senior rowers.  It is hard for a strength driven sport like crew to recruit members, especially female members who fear getting too bulky or to ‘man-ly’ from the effort.  Despite this Danny Harris, the four-year head coach of the varsity team, is working night and day to make the crew and the lives of his athletes better. 

            “I got four points, Faith, Family, Academia, and Sport,” Danny said, “you have to have the other three in line for the fourth to happen.”  Danny Has worked hard these past four year to bring the women’s team up, and mold them into the best athletes and students they can be.  Danny coaches by a simple statement, “Give me two weeks and I will change your life for the positive.” 

            Academics are immensely important to Danny’s coaching philosophy.  Crew is a sport of commitment and sheer, brazen will power.  “If you are failing, you can’t row, we will ask you to leave,” Danny commented about academics.  He urges his girls to apply themselves fully to their education before even thinking about sports.  He wants to see the women on his team learn and grow to reach their highest potential through the commitment required by crew.  A third of his team consists of biology and chemistry majors who balance a full course load and a 5 am practice everyday, which is no easy feat.

            Danny believes this sport holds one of the highest levels of difficulty and fitness, only rivaled by cross-country.  “It is 100% body and 100% mind,” Danny said.  The girls are challenged daily to become better.  There is something to be said about waking up before the dawn, and doing more in 2 hours than most people do in an entire day.

            Despite the hard work and endless hours of training mind and body, crew has remained a club.  The women’s team pushed for NCAA entrance on the 2010 CSULB ballot, but were over shadowed and forgotten by the campaign for bring back football and the 100 other clubs who want to be recognized.  “I believe this is a top-tier sport,” Danny said, “yet most people still see it as a secondary.”  He hopes that someday NCAA status will be granted to both teams, and that Beach Crew will then be able to reach its full potential.

 

Photos courtesy of Pam Van Diepen

CSULB Crew Team, Men's side

     The Mens Crew team at Long Beach State is one of the oldest clubs on campus.  Founded in 1954, the crew team has had its ups and downs, but the biggest hardship they have faced is campus recognition.  Due to the early practice time, 5:30 am, most students have no idea what crew is or even realize we have a team.  Like other club sports, crew has no way of actually "recruiting" athletes by offering scholarships or other compensation through the university.
     "Recognition on campus is mostly 50/50," said Matthew Wood a senior and three year member of the team,  "We walk around with beach crew shirts on and people say 'What's that?' and you answer 'Rowing', and they ask 'What's that?' and you generally walk away after that."  5 am is not a time when most college students rise.  Therefore, one can see how easily something like crew could slip under the radar.

    Recruiting is possibly the biggest issue faced by the crew team.  Club dues are $500 per semester, and other costs include travel and apparel, which brings us to an almost unavoidable total of around $1,500 a year.  As you might guess, this is not a big "selling" point for the team.  Many recruits balk at the costs and ultimately leave the program until only the truly dedicated remain.  "The ones you do get drop before money is due, or you have members try to get by without paying, which ultimately just hurts the club," said Mathew Dalton a four year rower and three year member of the varsity team.
     The club is still incredibly competitive.  The number of novice rowers, or new members, has increased each semester.  The entire club, including both men and women, jumped from 56 athletes last year, to 80 athletes this year alone, 25-35 of those members on each side are novices.  High numbers like these, provides more oppurtunities to compete, not only with other colleges but also within the team itself.  The old saying, "iron sharpens iron", comes to mind when i think of the team.

     As a former rower, i know how difficult it is to face some of the heavy hitters in the NCAA, namely those close in proximaty.  USC, UCLA, UCSD, and Cal are the strongest crews on the West Coast.  Some races even include schools from the east, like Yale and Harvard.  "They just blow us out of the water," said the men's varsity coach, Robert Edwards.  "With other clubs its pretty similar we are pretty evenly stacked, and even against some the NCAA's, the smaller ones like Lewis and Clark just dont have the population to keep up."
     Crew is easily one of the hardest and least noticed sports on campus.  The men and women of the club are trying to change that.  They want to be seen and recognized for their accomplishments and they strive toward that goal every day.  So if you have nothing better to do at 5 am, there is always crew!

Photos courtesy of Matthew Wood