School sports are a fundamental part of life at Princess Anne, but while some students play for PA sports teams, others play for club sports teams. Sports like basketball, soccer, and baseball are recognized as sports teams within VBCPS, while other sports like Crew and Water Polo are considered “club sports.”
Clubs are often thought of as a group who meets to discuss a book or design the yearbook, but that isn’t the only type of club. Club sports at the high school level are self-funded, practicing and competing with other clubs and organizations in the area. However, they aren’t considered official PA sports teams.
Overall, there isn’t much of a difference between school sports and club sports. Both types of sports offer students chances to physically challenge themselves and discover what skills they excel at. The biggest difference is that club sports are self-funded. Unlike varsity sports, which receive their funding from the school, club sports have to rely on donations and fundraising projects to buy their equipment and uniforms.
The Princess Anne Crew Club (PACC) is in its 17th year of rowing; they travel across Virginia, competing and rowing as a team. Over 30 rowers on the team practice five days a week at the Western Branch Lynnhaven River, and they compete against other clubs and high schools on the weekends.
Some members of the team express their annoyance with their distinction as a club sport. “It’s very weird,” said a rower. “I don’t understand how we don’t have funding, compared to all the other sports even though we do the same things that [other] sports do. We go on actual water, and we have equipment that costs a lot of money, but instead of having a school to hold the equipment, we have to use someone else’s backyard, which I don’t think is very fair.”
Jon Macy has been the head coach of the PACC for five years. As the coach, he is in charge of the rowers, running practices and attending every regatta (rowing race). He even supplies a few of his own shells, or boats, for the club. “I think there’s probably a couple of reasons [why Crew isn’t a sport],” Macy explained. “It has to do with the level of participation. Also, if you look at the Virginia High School League, all the sports teams are under their umbrella; they have control over it. Crew is not. It is kind of an oddball, an outcast.”
The PACC is under the Eastern Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association, which also includes rowing clubs like the Cox High School Crew Club and the First Colonial High School Crew Club.
Although it is not officially recognized like other PA sports, Crew holds some benefits that “usual” sports lack. For one thing, club sports are normally year-round. The PACC participates in longer endurance-based fall “head” races and shorter speed-based spring “sprint” races, utilizing the winter season for conditioning. This ensures that athletes stay active all year. Another benefit of club sports is the higher level of competition gained by competing against all types of teams across the state, which furthers each athlete’s development.
Even though the Crew Club and other club sports aren’t considered school sports, Macy explains they still require the same amount of teamwork and dedication. “[Rowing] is an absolute team sport, beyond any other team sport,” said Macy. “It requires absolute individual concentration.”
