73 SOCIAL CLUBS Three of the Harding University small men’s social clubs combined teams for intramural sports in fall 2022. The men’s clubs that combined were ROME, Delta Chi Delta and Alpha Tau Epsilon. In years prior, these men’s social clubs played against other teams as their own groups, but with their lower numbers, it was difficult to have a secure number of players. Senior Delta Chi Delta member Christian Stump recognized this and helped initiate the combination process among the three clubs. These clubs entered new territory when they grouped together and did not fully know what to expect. “There are people that you don’t necessarily know, so trying to coach them and what they need is going to be different than what you already know from the members of both,” Stump said. Junior ROME member Conner White helped alongside Stump in connecting these clubs. “There is enough interest in doing it together even though it is just a couple members teaming up,” White said. “For those of us who want to do sports, it is fun to have that opportunity to do it together.” Senior Delta Chi Delta member Davis Buckley was one of the players. POWER IN NUMBERS Harding men’s social clubs combine to make one intramural sports team. GOOD GAME Sophomore Marcus Doss watches the game from the dugout. He was a member of Alpha Tau Epsilon and played for the combined small club team. Photo by: Lauren Simmons “I think we have really enjoyed working together, kind of just working around each other’s schedules, being able to kind of accommodate each other has been nice,” Buckley said. “We have been getting along great.” This was not the first time social clubs combined to create one team. Women’s social clubs GATA, Shantih and Regina previously combined teams to play together in athletics. However, men’s clubs had not combined together to create a team as frequently as women’s clubs had. “I think a lot of times it’s easy for clubs to become kind of secluded and be like, ‘This is my friend group. I only do stuff with my club,’” Buckley said. “So I always enjoy getting to kind of partner up with different clubs, whether it’s service projects or sports or anything like that.” These different groups came together for the purpose of playing sports, but out of that came a new opportunity to work together as a united team. On November 1, 2022 Alpha Tau disbanded and were no longer considered an active social club. Written by: Mattie Powers
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