HOUSTON, Mar 5, 2026 - With over 30 sport clubs offered at Campus Recreation, UH students have many activities to explore. Even if a specific sports club does not currently exist, with enough effort, new sports clubs, like golf and fencing this previous semester, can gain traction quickly.
It is no doubt that sports clubs play an important part in Campus Recreation, but it might be in ways that might surprise people.
Hanley Koh, treasurer for the UH Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club, initially only joined the club because: “I hate doing cardio; BJJ is better than doing that.” Little did he know this decision would lead him to finding a community that would last his entire college career.
“I just love doing what I do when I come here,” Koh said. “I love the community. There are no better people than the people I roll with today.”
Koh’s experience isn’t an isolated one, as UH men’s volleyball sport club Carson Osterlund found his community beyond the city of Houston.
“I’ve gained a lot of friends from other schools from traveling with the club,” Osterlund said. “I go hang out with them and we build this healthy environment. We even find more fans of the sport.”
Many sport clubs can travel for many of their competitions, events, etc. These competitions can range from friendly matches with local schools to national tournaments crowning the best in the nation.
With these experiences in abundance, students are constantly being challenged through competition and growing not only in their sport but also finding their identity.
“I’ve learned a lot about how to help others, specifically coaches,” Osterlund said. “This is very much a family environment. Everyone is kind and sweet, it’s awesome. I feel like this sport club is important to me because it helped me become a better person.”
Even though sport clubs revolve around the sport itself, some students simply use sport clubs to become involved.
“I don’t typically do sports,” Cougar Archery Member Percivical Yarde said. “When I saw it, I thought to myself, I always wanted to try archery, so why not.”
Yarde attended Cat’s Back last fall and happened to see a trifold promoting the sport club. This decision to give sports clubs a try led her to memories with an entirely new group of people she had never met before.
We’ve done roller skating, and ice skating we even went to Ren Faire,” Yarde said. “I have a lot more friends and a lot more opportunities to do things that I have always wanted to do. Funny enough, a lot of the people here have similar interests to me.”
It only took one semester for Yarde, a first-year student, to find her home at UH, and it was through sport clubs. It can be daunting for students to put themselves out there, but sport clubs are a way to explore a new activity with a new community that will embrace every student on campus.
“It gives me a chance to take a break from all of the schoolwork and have fun with a group of people that also enjoy and share similar interests as I do,” Yarde said.
Written by Vi Tran - Marketing Program Manager – Campus Recreation – Student Affairs.