Alexander Bershtein
Staff Writer

At the start of the spring semester, Millersville’s Equestrian Club became a member of the Club Sports.

To the Equestrian Club’s delight, they were almost unanimously accepted into the Sports Clubs by the council of club leaders in attendance at the vote.  

The President of the Equestrian Club explained that it was a long process, but the club as a whole wanted to be recognized as a club sport, and to have “the title of sport!” Especially for the Inner Collegiate Horse Association, that Equestrian Club is the part of.

However, the is also welcoming to students who are even just into horses as the club center around the chitter-chatter, hobbies, and caretaking of horses as well.

The club practices horse-riding at the local Longshot Stables, as well as care for the horses living at the acres.

The club does not own any horses, and when they go to competitions horses are borrowed and decided through lottery of picking names from a hat

She explained the process of registering to become recognized as Club Sport.

It started with contacting the head of Student Recreation, Dr. Nesbitt. He sent them an application that required documentation of email and phone numbers of all board members and the club advisor.

The members of the Equestrian Club desired the title of “sport” to designate them.

Once, the Equestrian Club got acknowledged by the Club Sports Council the funding for their club, from the Student Government Organization, was completely cut off. This is protocol when any club decides to transition from the Student Government Organization to Sports Club Council. They explained that fundraising is what keeps a Sports Club afloat, and what is expected.

The Equestrian Club came across the major difference between regular clubs and those that are considered club sports is that:

Club Sports must have six definite positions, and usually, it is recommended that the position is in relation to the sport.

As with the hierarchy leadership roles the Student Government Organization requires, the Equestrian Club had previously only had a President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary, yet Club Sports require them to add at least two more roles since they needed a minimum of six roles of responsibility. The two new roles added were Fundraising and Public Relations, which is in charge of communications and the club Facebook page.

The President of the Equestrian Club explained that you apply for funding per semester from the Club Sports Council, which is different from the per year from the Student Government Association.

There is a point system that the Club Sports Council uses to assess how much funding the club will get, including having the minimum of six leadership roles and going to campus leadership events like Relay for Life.

The Equestrian Club is welcoming new students into its friendly atmosphere, and as treasurer of the club stated, “We have team meetings, team dinners, bonding nights, and volunteer together.”