One of the most important members of the Penn Curling Club is Luke Krier’s (C ‘27) mother. Without an eligible driver for the competing players last season, Krier stepped in, ensuring that the team could attend bonspiels, or curling matches, with other schools across the Northeast. Flying in from Minnesota, she drove the team up to ten hours to other universities in a rental car. As an “honorary member” of the team, according to several of its players, Krier stepped away from her accounting position in the thick of tax season to help the team thrive.

Curling is one of 34 club sports offered by Penn’s Sport Club Council. Unlike their Division I counterparts, club–level sports are not mandated by the NCAA. Predominantly led by undergraduates, these teams play in less strict environments and can compete against a wider spread of universities across the Northeast. Almost every aspect of the club, from finding players to traveling to championships, is organized by students.

At the club level, any team from volleyball to water polo will share funds from a communal SCC reserve, spreading resources thin. Most athletes don’t have access to a coach, personal equipment, or transportation. Even more scarce is time, as team leaders bear the burden of scheduling practices and gathering players together. With few tools at their disposal, these student–athletes are forced to find creative solutions. 

In the USA College Curling League, the lack of regulation allows creativity to flourish among the players as they dress up or decorate ice rinks to compete in themed bonspiels. While most of Penn’s sports teams will wear a standardized red–and–blue uniform, the Curling Club and its competitors stray from the norm. To show team spirit, players opt for ensembles that honor unity or their school while still thinking outside the box.

“[One team] just decided they were sponsored by Pepsi. They weren’t. But they made outfits and it was like Pepsi,” Luke says. “At the national championship, [Princeton players] were all wearing tiger–print pants. In curling, you will see a lot of people with very loud pants.”

For the Penn Curling Club, this creativity could look like pink costumes for a “Barbie–spiel” or the entire HotWheels animated series streaming on televisions around the arena as they compete for unconventional prizes. Among the spoils of their victories are a Barbie doll, a Shrek 3 DVD, and a handmade mug adorned with curling targets.

While the league deviates from convention, it still observes several of its own traditions, such as trading meals with opposing teams. Schools across the Northeast are typically welcomed with chili or stew from the hosting team’s kitchen.

“Usually, you’ll be talking with your team, but you start to talk with all the other teams,” Luke says. “[We’re] getting ready, like, ‘Hey, how is the bonspiel?’ It’s a very communal competitive sport.” 

Along with meals, players often trade pins sporting their team’s logo. Penn’s curlers collect these from their competitors as “nice trophies,” according to Club President Joseph Katz (C ‘26). However, Social Media Chair Collin Schneider (C ‘26), who estimates his collection at over 20 pins, favors Penn’s emblem: a depiction of the “LOVE” statue with a curling stone in place of the “O.”

Curling is a less mainstream sport—according to a tally from North Carolina State University, around 185 clubs exist across the nation, including those at the collegiate level. Few opportunities to curl produce a small population of curlers throughout the United States. With a large number of players who have never curled before, teams are prone to mistakes on the ice. However, a mutual understanding of people’s experiences allows for a culture of more forgiveness between teammates.

“We don’t take things too seriously on or off the ice,” Joseph says. “No one’s really getting too mad at each other for a shot gone wrong, and when a shot goes right, we’re really excited to see it. … In curling, so many people are new, [so] half the shots are just people missing completely.”

With a lack of funding, the Curling Club needs to find creative solutions to activities as basic as traveling. Although Krier was able to support the team on the road this latest season, transportation has posed a larger issue, as traveling to competing universities takes hours. Even getting to practice is a struggle—the team travels by train just to practice in a shared rink with Villanova each week. Luke acknowledges that travel times and thin resources can even dissuade prospective curlers. 

“Being a club sport, you have to do your own recruiting [and get] people excited,” he says. “We don’t have a dedicated facility here at Penn, so we have to take a 40–minute train ride in and out to the club. So you have that sort of added cost.”

According to Collin, though, the benefit of traveling such a long distance is the journey itself. 

“The thing about curling clubs is they can never be in the city. They have to be two hours outside the city,” he says. “You drive through these really cool scenic back roads to the club. It's a ton of fun. We stop along the way, and it’s a great way to see places that I would have never seen, ordinarily all across the Hudson River Valley and stuff like that.”

Between train rides and road trips, the team spends a lot of time together. Collin notes the charm of having a smaller group through these experiences.

“Everybody who joins is part of the family instantly,” he says. “Part of it being so small is fun because we can have meals together, we can do homework with each other.”



Like the Curling Club, Penn’s Sailing Club shares the burden of long drives. Competing in regattas anywhere from Cornell to Old Dominion University, sailors spend much of their time together in van rides up to eight hours long.

However, out of the club sports teams, the sailing team might be the closest to an NCAA sport. Unlike its SCC colleagues, it sources players through a recruitment process and its competitors are primarily D–I sailors.

Recruitment chair Jackson McAliley (W ‘27) recalls his own recruitment process. “I was in the Central Park Zoo when I got the call from my coach that I got through the early read, which is a fun moment,” Jackson says. “I wanted to study business, and I thought Wharton was the place to be. I was really happy about it.”

As recruitment chair, Jackson manages communication with potential student–athletes. Eligible high school juniors can visit the team, take classes, and practice with other sailors before receiving a decision from coach Isaac Clark regarding their recruitment. 

While the majority of the team is recruited, several key members, such as co–captain Anna Hoffman (W ‘25), are walk–ons. Students are welcome to join, but they are expected to bear a heavy commitment. The average team member is required to attend three–and–a–half–hour sessions, three times a week, on the Delaware River. In addition, they are required to attend one–to–two–hour–long morning workouts each week. Every other weekend, they leave campus for competitions that keep them until late Sunday night. 

Co–captain Kiki Bruzzi (E ‘25) values the commitment among her players, likely because of her extensive experience. Having sailed since three months old and competing since age six, Kiki has traveled the world by boat. She encourages committed and passionate students to join. “I think if you are someone who’s hardworking, dedicated, and has a thirst for a bit of a challenge like that, [sailing] is the place for you,” she says. 

As a co–ed team in a sport largely divided by gender, Eva Gonzalez–Whitehouse (C ‘26) feels a specific sense of community within the sailing team that she doesn’t see elsewhere.

“The dynamic of our team is very unique,” Eva says. “We’re always doing things that help each other out.”

Out of Penn’s club sports, Penn Sailing faces one of the most difficult blows as it competes against D–I athletics. Without the funding an NCAA–backed team would have, players have noticed a disparity between their competition. “They definitely have more resources than us,” Eva says. “Being recognized [as a club sport] isn’t stopping our progress, but we definitely could get more resources.”

Even finding players becomes difficult as high schoolers choose between a club sport and other varsity athletics. Jackson understands this decision as he faced a choice between Penn's sailing club and Brown’s D–I team. 

“You’re being offered a D–I program that has all the facilities and support for athletes, and then a club program that says we do the same things,” he says. “I was questioning whether I was going to have the same experience.”

Unlike their competitors, sailors can’t fly to competitions and instead have to drive to regattas by van. While these trips can be time–consuming, they offer extra moments for team bonding.

“As much as being in a van for five hours going to Cornell sucks, there’s always some fun, interesting conversation that's happening,” Kiki says. “Or we'll start playing a game in the van all together. There’s always those little special moments that make it all worth it.”



Penn’s Equestrian Team also has ample time to bond—only, for them, time together may look like meticulous care for their barn, tacking up horses, or caring for their animals between lessons and shows. A rider’s day starts as early as six in the morning; they haul bags of gear that nearly eclipse them in height to an Uber that takes them an hour south of campus where they compete at Northwestern Stables. 

The team competes with schools across the East Coast in walking and jumping contests. In the former, riders display their control over a horse’s pace, where they will be commanded to slowly walk and trot or quickly canter and gallop. The latter presents an obstacle course in which riders follow a path around a stable ring and jump over hurdles of different heights. 

While walking competitions are open to all new riders, any competitors interested in jumping must earn points by earning one of the top six places in various events. Carola Agostini (C ‘25), the team’s social chair, recently scored enough points to reach this level at their only home competition of the season on Oct. 20.

With about seven–to–ten competing riders, the equestrian team typically hosts only one competition annually. Between paying for staff members, hiring an EMT, maintaining barn upkeep, and renting horses both within and outside Northwestern Stables, the cost of a competition often doesn’t outweigh the profits made. According to Carola, a recent event generated an estimated $8,000 in revenue but turned only a $2,000 profit. 

Setup for the show is also a commitment, with planning beginning a month in advance. Co–Captain Audrey Lehneis (C ‘25) enjoys organizing the event, which gives out ribbons to the first six places and Starbucks gift cards to first–place winners. “We run the show, sign everybody up, just that sort of thing,” Audrey says. “I did like setting up the show because it feels like I’m actually doing something versus just managing people—like creating a new event, which is fun.”

In competitions, riders face the special challenge of randomized horse selection. Most will not know which animal they will ride until shortly before they enter the ring. Team members are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of Northwestern Stables’ horses, but because the organization rents equines from other stables, riders may compete on an animal they’ve never met before. This poses the unique dilemma of adapting to a new teammate—the way a horse responds to commands, its speed, or even its height can dramatically change a rider’s experience.

“It’s not the horse’s fault,” Carola says. “You kind of have to get used to their way of doing things. You can’t just force them to become a different horse.”

For riders, working with horses requires collaboration. Before any event, they must tack up their animals by equipping them with necessary materials such as saddles, bridles, and stirrups, all of which are used to steer and direct the horse. Some riders even go as far as to warm metal hardware on their skin to cause the animals less discomfort. Team treasurer Suhani Bhatt (C ‘25) notes that empathizing with the horse is critical.

“I think it’s important to remember it's a new experience,” Suhani says. “Sometimes you can’t really control a horse, and it’s important to understand. Try your best at the end of the day, it’s a couple–thousand–pound animal, [and] sometimes they’re also having a bad day.”

Outside of competitions, members practice once or twice a week with the stable’s usual roster of horses. While only experienced undergraduates can compete, practices and riding lessons are open to both Penn’s undergraduate and graduate students.

As a Ph.D. student, Rachael Kenneip treasures the opportunity to ride after not being able to do so in her undergraduate career. “I like just being able to get back in the saddle after I haven’t ridden,” she says. “I rode my whole life. I was able to jump for the first time recently, which is not something I’d ever done before. A lot easier than I thought it would be.”

Anna Sofio (W ‘26) notes the learning curve that comes with being a new rider. “I think that the growth and learning how to do various things like putting on the saddle is very exponential,” Anna says. “I would honestly practice more if I could.”

For those looking to join the equestrian team, Carola emphasizes the ability to learn and adapt. “You don’t need experience. You can be graduate, you can be undergraduate. I think the most important thing is willingness to listen and to learn. I think horses are the best teachers you can have.”



Dozens of students spend hours each week on the ice, water, or in stables, but this is only a snapshot of the greater club sport community. The SCC spreads its funds over an estimated 1,000 student–athletes, all of which dedicate their time to frequent practices, matches against other schools, and sometimes administrative efforts such as athlete recruitment or financial organization.

The student–governed nature of these groups spreads resources thin, but also creates dynamic leaders. Team captains, along with other authorities, are expected to recruit athletes, submit budget requests, and organize socials on top of leading their players through seasons that can take up the majority of the academic year or extend beyond it. Their NCAA counterparts, however, have almost all of these resources provided to them. Those who rise to the occasion can come out equipped with necessary leadership skills to take on a variety of challenges in their future careers, whether athletic or otherwise. 

The number of SCC athletes has shrunk by almost 400 over the past two years. As these teams open their doors to new athletes during the next recruitment cycle, there will be hundreds of spaces for potential leaders, trailblazers, or community members—the only way to know is to join. 

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