How important are equestrian and ice hockey at A&M? They are both club sports at LSU. I know that I am one of three people from LSU who care, but I love equestrian and ice hockey. A few years ago Auburn was the only SEC school with varsity equestrian. I don't know if that has changed.

Hockey is a club sport so I would put it on not important at all/didnt have a clue A&M had a hockey team until now. Equestrian is definitely more important

Double post

[This message has been edited by favre (edited 10/10/2011 9:02p).]

Weren't we national champions in equestrian last year?

From Aggie Athletics in regards to Equestrian.

Q) How competitive is Texas A&M?
A) The last 10 years, our team has been very blessed to have some great athletes that have lead to our extensive success! Our western team just won its 7th National Championship! Our Hunter Seat Team fought for the National Championship last year as we ended up 2nd. Overall (both hunter seat and western) our team has consistently been the reserve National Champion for the last 3 years!!

Equestrian is as huge as it could probably be at A&M, the team are perennial contenders.

I knew a guy in the Corps on the club hockey team, and they're fairly competitive, and really active. Go to tournaments out west, etc.

Odd tidbit: I was working at Freebirds last year and the Auburn equestrian team came in. I asked them all where they were from and not a single one was from Alabama, they were all from tornado alley and one was from Florida. Just thought that was weird.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For The Good Times
First of the Finest, Finest of the First

Wow, that is odd. I mean, schools have been using the "It's just not a sport that serves our state's population well" to cut NCAA programs (see Clemson swimming), but then Auburn gives all of those scholarships, and not one is to an Alabama resident? Interesting. They do have a very good vet school though, so maybe that's the hook.

Equestrian is pretty big at A&M. I've been to quite a few matches...it could be bigger. Everyone knows they exist and think it's great that they're so good, but most of their marketing (pet the horses, etc) is done towards attracting families. The matches could be a touch more student-friendly if they sort of had a play-by-play of what we were seeing, because most people can't tell the difference.

As for ice hockey, A&M has a very well-organized club sports department. Partially because of our huge student body, we tend to be very good at club sports, so in that regard ice hockey is a big deal. But, at the same time, they don't often attract more than friends and family, which is just the way it is. Club sports are actually not that different than varsity sports, aside from the amount of money pumped into them. You play big name schools, travel around the country, qualify for National Championship Tournaments, All-Conference and All-American awards. It's got a lot of the same intrigue and drama as the big time sports.

The below post is dated:

'Q) How competitive is Texas A&M?
A) The last 10 years, our team has been very blessed to have some great athletes that have lead to our extensive success! Our western team just won its 7th National Championship! Our Hunter Seat Team fought for the National Championship last year as we ended up 2nd. Overall (both hunter seat and western) our team has consistently been the reserve National Champion for the last 3 years!!'

The western ladies have won eight titles (if you count the three in a row they won in the IHSA from 2002-04). The hunter team has only finished second or higher once, in 2008. To their credit, they beat perennial national champ Georgia last weekend however. Not an easy task. Our string of overall reserve national titles (i.e. second place finishes) ended in 2011 with, I believe, a third place overall finish.