Photo spread of some of the club sports at Manhattan Univeristy.
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María Castaño, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Manhattan University (MU) offers students the opportunity to engage in different sports at the national and local level through intramural sports teams and student-led clubs.
Currently, MU recognizes cheerleading, tennis, esports, dance, men’s rowing and ultimate frisbee as clubs with distinct seasons and divisions, according to its official site.
All of these clubs have been active in recent years except for the tennis club, who’s last Instagram post was on Oct. 21, 2024.
The Student Engagement office also sponsors on-campus intramural sports. The only active teams currently are the basketball, volleyball, flag football and soccer clubs.
To join any of these teams, it is necessary to sign up on IMLeagues.com or look for specific interest forms on the teams’ Instagram pages.
The club basketball team recently announced open tryouts for the semester. Their 2025-2026 season ended roughly with a streak of 11 losses and only one home game won, according to the NCBBA website.
Both men’s and women’s soccer clubs were introduced last year and have been active ever since.
The women’s team recently posted its executive board for the 2026-27 year, featuring Ashley Zegler, a senior mechanical engineering student, as the captain and founder of the club.
They compete in the US College Club Soccer East Conference as members of the NYC Division / NIRSA NY Metro region.
In support of breast cancer awareness, they played a doubleheader this past Saturday against NYU and Cornell in a round-robin tournament hosted at MU, after which they played against Columbia on campus.
Their season began on Sept. 12 in an away game against Hofstra. This was closely followed by the men’s team, as they won their season-opening game against Farmingdale 4-0, held on Sept. 19. The third game of their season was held this past Sunday against Stony Brook at Gaelic Park.
The club flag football team also opened tryouts last month and has been fundraising for future activities and equipment.
Last year, they opened the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association tournament successfully with a 32-6 win against the Rochester Institute of Technology team on Nov. 13. While no official games have occurred this semester, they have had a friendly match against SDT and an open practice so far.
The newest addition to student-led sports clubs in MU is the running club, founded by Shane Dilley, a sophomore communication major who also serves as the club’s social media manager.
So far, they have held two events to gauge interest and introduce themselves to the campus community.
The ultimate frisbee club was held down after the core and founding members graduated years ago, and only recently did they kick off the fall ‘26 semester with a revamped marketing strategy that caught the eye of many on campus with a poster captioned “You Can Be a Good Boy Too!”
The club represents MU at the USAU Metro New York Regional Tournament, for which they fundraised last year. Hopefully, we will see them there in the near future.
Manhattan University also has a D1 co-ed esports team that offers students four games to play: League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
They compete in weekly matches that can be seen on their Twitch channel against other MAAC schools, having their own dedicated room on the 1st floor of Kelly Commons. Some of their most recent accolades include winning the 2024 MAAC Esports Valorant Championship and placing 2nd in the 2023 MAAC Tournament for League of Legends.
Their season runs from September to March and the easiest way to contact them is through their Instagram page or by email at esports@manhattan.edu.
One of the longest-running clubs at MU belongs to the Men’s Rowing team, which was instituted in 1932.
They compete from September to May with the help of their coach, Michael Ward.
The team’s practices are usually held in New Rochelle, with transportation to and from campus, or at Draddy Gymnasium for land practices. The club is open to all, with no experience required for the non-varsity level.
They are recognized as one of the founding members of the Dad Vail Regatta events, in which they participate as much as their funding allows.
To raise funds for their 2026 Spring season, they organized their first-ever Ergathon, a 12-hour rowing endurance challenge, alongside a GoFundMe so they could cover the cost of competing in the regattas. To join, email the coach for more information.