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Powerlifting
I reached out to RUPL president, Ryan Schilling, to talk about all things Club Powerlifting. To begin, powerlifting is an extremely beginner-friendly, year-round sport that uses strength-based programming and peer mentors to promote said beginner-friendly environment. Being that powerlifting is an individual sport, there is a sense of friendly rivalry that “helps motivate people to continually improve,” and “the choice whether or not to compete as well as the frequency of competition is completely dependent on an individual lifter’s goals for themselves.” This creates a supportive environment of looking after each other and constantly working towards new goals.
When asked about morale this season, Schilling bragged that “RUPL is currently the largest it has ever been with many new members being underclassmen who are new to the sport,” saying that “having a rather young team makes [him] me very hopeful for the next few years after [himself] myself and other leaders on the team begin to graduate”. This demonstrates the peer mentoring that goes on in RUPL, where upper-class students can teach and train the young team how to thrive once they are gone. “Additionally with a larger team, we will likely be sending our largest team ever to nationals depending on who qualifies and in what weight classes. It feels like there is a lot of energy surrounding competing with the team and everyone seems excited to keep pushing forward this year.”
Lastly, Schilling gave a testimonial about his experience with powerlifting saying “Being a part of Rutgers Powerlifting has also led to me making some of the best friends and best memories of my college experience so I’m even more grateful for that.”
Gymnastics 
“We don’t exist to win. We exist for the love of building valuable relationships, for the love of keeping a healthy body, for the love of achieving more, for the love of giving back, and for the love of the sport!”.
This is the mission statement of Rutgers Club Gymnastics. When talking to President Sidney Johnson, I asked her to elaborate on how these values shine through in Rutgers Club Gymnastics. The following quote is her response. “I think these values shine mostly through the environment we have created at Rutgers University Club Gymnastics. Throughout the gymnastics community and history, there is so much negativity which includes mental, sexual, and verbal abuse from coaches and/or their peers that has made gymnasts fall out of love with the sport. At the Rutgers University Club Gymnastics (RUCG) we plan to break that trend in the gymnastics community and strive to create an environment where everyone is supported to achieve their best. Each member of our gym is a cheerleader for themselves and other members, pushing, and striving each other to reach their individual gymnastics goals. Through team bonding events, and practices you can find people with similar interests and create long-lasting friendships in and out of the gym. We also have had guest speakers come in and talk about how to keep our bodies as healthy as possible. Through all these actions, we have created an environment at RUCG that shows these values daily.”
Fostering a healthy environment in sports is an incredibly vital aspect of feeling fulfilled as an athlete. Rutgers Club Gymnastics clearly strives for that and continues to hold positive energy in terms of welcoming beginners and finding a balance between having fun and working hard. “For example, at practices, even though we are dancing to music on the sidelines or cracking jokes, and engaging in conversation, we are still working towards completing our assignments for that day, conditioning, and actively seeking corrections from our coaches on how to improve our gymnastics.” This balance allows for a safe space for gymnasts to harbor their love for gymnastics without the stereotypical stress and negativity that is associated.
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Do you have exciting news or updated information to share with the Club Sports community? Contact our writer, Hana Zimmerman at hz441@scarletmail.rutgers.edu.
