Sport Clubs News

The SDSU Dance Club Team won the 2020 Universal Dance Academy (UDA) College Division IA Hip-Hop Dance National Championships in January. This 27-member Dance Club Team beat out UNLV, LSU and the University of Memphis to win its first national title in school history.

Performing regularly at Aztec Men’s football and basketball games, our SDSU Dance team is well known among students. Competitively the team has been on a rapid ascent, having only competed in the UDA College Division IA for the past eight years. Last year, the team placed third at the championships.

This year, the team competed in three categories: Jazz, Hip-Hop and Game Day. To prepare award-winning routines, the team spent winter break putting in 12-hour-day rehearsals for several weeks.

All their hard work paid off and it was the final round of Hip-Hop that cinched it. After their performances, teams walk off stage where the UDA has a video screen for each team to watch their performance. “We had just left it all on the stage and we dragged our lifeless bodies off,” said Morgan Michalak, interdisciplinary students junior and team member. “Everyone was really emotional. We huddled-up around the small screen and watched our performance hugging and crying.” The team waited more than an hour to start hearing the results. Michalak describes the tension mounting as the announcements were made, starting with 10th place. “We just kept waiting to hear ‘SDSU’, and then when they announced UNLV in second place it was surreal,” Michalak said.

Michalak describes the camaraderie among her teammates. “The bond that we have as a team and the training we go through is so intense,” she said. “It’s amazing to experience this [win] together and we all feel enormous gratitude toward one another and toward all our supporters including our coaches, parents and SDSU community.”

DeJuan Benford, Aztec Recreation Competitive Sports Manager, oversees 21 Sport Club teams including the Dance Team. Beaming with pride, he says, “This is a team of 27 superstars. Their professionalism and work ethic have been rewarded, and I could not be more proud.”

Associated Students established the Sport Club program in 1961 and since then it has grown to include 21 diverse and highly competitive teams and over 800 athletes. Teams represent SDSU in intercollegiate competitions at regional, state and national levels. Each club team is developed, organized, and managed by student leaders with guidance from the Aztec Recreation Competitive Sports administrators.