Membership increases yearly for Ball State snowboarding club

By Sarah Janssen

It began with only a few people and a Facebook group but has snowballed into a legitimate campus organization. The snowboarding club began on Facebook four years ago and has been a campus club for three years. Membership has doubled every year since the club’s start. The club’s sixty members’ have a variety of skill levels, ranging from beginner to advanced, says the club president John Hottle.

“Last year we had a foreign exchange student join who had never even seen snow before but went on our trip to Colorado,” says vice president Clare Schroeder.

Each year, the club takes one big trip. They have been to resorts in Colorado, West Virginia and this year went to Mount Snow in Vermont. “Vermont was wild,” says member and safety officer Kyle Harris.

Vermont was a five-day trip, costing members a little over $200 for club dues, a trip deposit, and lift tickets. Fundraising pays for members’ gas and lodging. The last two days of the trip were also the first two days of the Mountain Dew tour. Vermont was the only east coast stop of the Dew Tour. The 36 members that went on the trip were able to watch professional snowboarders, take pictures and even ride with them says president John Hottle. The club is not exclusive to snowboarders. Six skiers went to Vermont this year. Schroeder and Hottle hope to eventually change the name to also include skiers.

You may have seen some members fundraising on campus. This year, they sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts and hot chocolate at the scramble light and at a booth in teacher’s college and cleaned up after basketball games. The club also receives private donations from businesses and former members as well as a grant from Walmart.

“Even with the growth of the club we still need to make it affordable,” said Schroeder.

In Hottle’s first year as president, he has made positive changes in the club. In previous years, the club focused on one big trip, but this year, the club is more about everyone getting to know each other, said Harris. Schroeder also likes seeing people going places on the weekends together, and not just going on the yearly trip.

“It’s great seeing people connect through the club and then be able to go out and do the sport,” she said.

Hottle is also planning an event called Rail Jam, an event bringing schools from around the area to Muncie to compete. This would be a good opportunity to fundraise for the club, make it more known in the community and provide a way for more advanced members to showcase their skills, says Hottle. The event is set tentatively for sometime this month.

With the Rail Jam, Harris says he sees the club becoming more competitive, but at the same time keeping it casual.

“That’s what’s awesome about the club. There’s all levels,” he says. “With as many experienced people we have, we have enough people that actually take the time to teach the people that don’t know.”

The club meets every Tuesday at 9 p.m. in HP 105. For more information, contact John Hottle at jrhottle@bsu.edu.