From badminton to national championship fishing
The NKU bass fishing team began four years ago. Brandon Houston, a senior business marketing major helped start the team.
“I wanted to go to a school that had bass fishing, but I ended up staying close to home, so we decided to start one here,” Houston said about his reasons for starting the Bass Fishing team.
Last spring the NKU bass fishing team traveled to Florence, Ala. for the 10th BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. NKU’s team won the two-day event catching 43.84 pounds of fish. Just .14 pounds more than second place North Alabama. Taking the National Championship as a result over 162 teams.
The tournament included teams from universities across the region, such as the University of Kentucky and Murray State University, along with former Atlantic Sun Conference foe Kennesaw State. The team won a $1,000 prize along with $1,000in fishing store gift cards.
Brandon Knapmeyer was one of the teammates that participated at the tournament. Knapmeyer is a junior education major. He has been fishing since he was a kid, and like Houston, has aspirations for being a professional competitive bass fisher after college. Both Knapmeyer and Houston said tournaments are their favorite part of being on the bass fishing team.
“Being able to travel and be around fellow competitors and friends is a lot of fun,” Houston said.
Club sports played a role in Joann Chauvin coming to NKU. She heard about NKU’s Equestrian Club during her senior year at Scott High School in Taylor Mill, KY. Along with being on the equestrian club, Chauvin, a senior played on the badminton club team for two years. She was the former secretary and president of the e-board. They come up with the rules, resolve disputes and provide funding for NKU’s club sports.
Confidence is what Chauvin believed is the biggest benefit to participating in club sports.
“You’re the only one in the ring, but you have everybody else there helping you,” said Chauvin. “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you have the passion to play and the heart to succeed, it doesn’t matter.”
Chauvin estimates that there are 120-200 students that participate in club sports at NKU. According to Chauvin, over the past couple of years sports clubs have been trying to reach out to more students. One reason for this is because of what Chauvin feels is a lack of knowledge from students about different club sports.
“A lot of people don’t know [that] we have sports clubs on campus or they only know of a couple,” Chauvin explained.
To participate in a club sport a student would need a 2.0 GPA and be enrolled for at least one credit hour. To start a sports club a team would need 10 players. Seasons for club sports vary depending on the sport. Bass fishing’s season is generally from March to November while other sports meet during the typical sports season.