Division I is great but show clubs respect too

Sitting on a plane bound for Salt Lake City after a weekend in Santa Barbara, I found myself reflecting on this concept athletes refer to as “the grind.”

On every level of competition, the so-called grind is meant to represent the work put in when nobody’s watching. It’s the days at the gym nobody sees, the hours on the court outside of practice and the miles run on the weekends in the ice and snow when everyone else is inside marathoning “Making a Murderer.”

I’d just witnessed firsthand the staggering amount of work put in by Utah State’s own women’s club lacrosse team, coming away from a weekend tournament requiring four full games in under 36 hours. The team had put in hours of conditioning and practice in addition to handling school schedules and the general demands all college students face in order to compete with the country’s top club programs, and they did it on their own dime.

By no means do I harbor any disrespect to athletes who play Division I sports on scholarship or are otherwise incentivized to play here in Cache Valley, but I consider Utah State’s top-flight club programs a huge source of pride when considering USU athletics as a whole.

Utah State baseball, playing their home games 15 minutes away in Smithfield because USU doesn’t have a diamond, captured two national titles over the last three years with a bunch of guys who paid their own way to the national tournament and some stellar volunteer coaches.

The hockey team contends year in and year out with in-state rivals Weber, University of Utah and BYU — notably stomping the Cougars 9-1 in Saturday’s teddy bear toss game.

These are athletes who give up as much time and dedication as any on campus without the luxuries afforded to the school’s division I sports, and they’ve done well enough to put USU on the map as a formidable opponent at the club level. They pay out of pocket to practice in facilities, often during the most inconvenient hours imaginable. They fundraise, condition and put their bodies on the line for the sake of pride and love for the sport.

These athletes embrace all these demands and more, and they do it behind the scenes with barely any fanfare. To me, that’s every bit as important to what forms USU athletics’ identity as our basketball team’s position in the Mountain West.

The grind is something many athletes like to lay claim to, but it’s the ones waking up in the early hours of morning and working in silent dedication with no thought toward recognition that I respect the most.

— Logan Jones is a junior majoring in Journalism. Contact him at logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu.