Sports programs offer various clinics

KATIE MCKENNA | Photo Illustration
According to www.byui.edu/activities, the clinics teach the fundamentals of the sport to the participants and sharpen their skills to get them ready for try outs.

On March 29, clinics will be held for golf, Ultimate Frisbee, softball, lacrosse and tennis.

“The purpose of clinics is to help people come into a sport that perhaps they’ve never played before and build fundamental skills so that they can advance in that particular sport, whether it be a basic level and they want to start playing or they’re at a more advanced level and want to excel,” said Stephenie Frye, a senior studying recreation management and the coordinator for the clinics.

Clinics are two hours long and participants are separated into gros based on their skill and participation levels: beginner, intermediate or advanced.

“We’ll spend an hour and a half working on just skills — rotating through different skills, letting them practice — and then the last half an hour is based on mini tournaments,” Frye said. “It’s an opportunity for them to apply the skills that they’ve learned in a game.”

“It’s an opportunity for all the students, not just the participants, but also the coaches,” Frye said. “They have a lot of experience in that particular sport, but some of them have never had the opportunity to coach, so a lot of what this program is to help people build résumés, build experience.”

Frye said both the Competitive Sports and Rec Sports programs work together to make these programs run.

“What we’ve done is have staff from recreational sports in charge of more the events side, more of the structural side,” Frye said. “Competitive Sports works with instructors, using their coaches for the following semester.”

Clinics that are available each semester is based on the sports that will be available in the coming semester, which is determined by the interest level of participants.

“We have a year-based schedule of what [sports will be offered], and that’s actually planned by the directors,” Frye said. “The directors are student leaders who have a listing of sports, and they base it off of participation, whether or not the sport is doing well.”

Softball, Ultimate Frisbee and Tennis have recreational and competitive programs, while lacrosse and track and field have competitive programs.

“Clinics are open to anyone,” Frye said. “Whether they’ve never played the sport before or they’re considered a varsity athlete, they are welcome to come and build skills,” Frye said. “It’s an opportunity to teach others and to have that learning environment. It’s a way that we can prepare ourselves for the next semester but also just socialize and have fun, and that’s why we play sports.”

Clinic dates and times include Ultimate Frisbee 10 a.m.-noon and tennis 2-4 p.m. on March 29.