by Siobhan Richards

KINGSTON, R.I. — Nov. 15, 2021 — All 18 club sport teams, including the new Women’s Volleyball club, are back after a long competition hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, every program was met with an abrupt end to their seasons that continued to impact teams into the 2020-2021 season, with intercollegiate competition being banned until March 2021. Now, nearly two years after the start of the pandemic, URI’s club sport teams are practicing, training, traveling and competing again.

Sailing was one of the few teams to compete in Spring 2021, qualifying for the Coed National Championship and placing 15th in the nation. 

“We are so proud of the hard work our Rams put forward in order to compete with the best of the best,” the team said in an Instagram post celebrating their accomplishments. 

Sailing headed into this fall with a regatta scheduled every weekend through Nov. 4 and successfully competed in each one. 

Other teams weren’t as lucky. For Tennis, this fall was the first time they were able to compete against other schools since March 2020. 

“Coming off from last year, where we didn’t do much competing, our hopes are that we get to participate in as many matches as we can and spend as much time as we can together as a team,” Tennis President Amanda Lin said. 

Tennis has had multiple round-robin tournaments at local schools such as Providence College, Bryant University, Boston University and Northeastern. The team even had the opportunity to compete at Harvard in Sectionals where the team placed in the top 14. 

“This season has been so fun and amazing. We have many new players, so there is this exciting new energy we get when we are together,” Lin said. Everyone has been very excited to have the chance to travel and compete against other schools rather than just competing with our own team members.” 

Field Hockey also got to begin their season this semester after a long hiatus. 

“It was definitely an adjustment to come back after the covid year because we had no games last year and were only able to just practice.” Team President Katie Siegle said. “Having to get back into the swing of things and getting back into games was an adjustment for sure.” 

The team started the season strong beating Brown on Sept. 26. Field hockey had six more competitions, including two round robbins in their fall season, to finish with a record of 3-4. 

“Even though our record wasn’t how we wanted it to go, we were always in every single game,” Siegle said. “We were always getting near-perfect attendance and everyone showing up, trying their hardest and that was something that was really notable to me.” 

The team had planned on three additional games that were canceled due to the pandemic and scheduling issues. Although their fall season is traditionally when the majority of their games happen, field hockey is not ready to hang up their sticks. 

“I’m going to try to make a lot more in the spring than there ever were in the past,” Siegle said. “I’m not ready to be done yet and I think that this group is looking to keep moving forward.” 

This story was written by Siobhan Richards, a senior majoring in Public Relations, Sports Media, and Journalism at the University’s Harrington School of Communication and Media.