It's a busy spring for the Nanaimo Sports and Social Club. They are currently offering dodgeball, basketball, indoor volleyball and squash. The club is also hosting a California kickball tournament on May 4 and 5. (NSSC)

By Dan Marshall

Array of Sports

Nanaimo Sports and Social Club growing numbers and adding sports

May 4, 2024 | 7:03 AM

NANAIMO — It’s year six for the Nanaimo Sports and Social Club.

Co-founders Chuck Hocker and Jamie Kuhn started the group hoping to provide an outlet for adults looking for activity and social connection.

Hocker said those core principles remain the same today.

“There’s a huge focus on sports that build a friendly social environment and it is really inclusive to a variety of skill levels.”

Participation has grown steadily and so has the number of sports being offered.

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“Over the course of last year we had about 1500 play some sort of activity throughout the course of the year,” Hocker said. “If we go back to our first couple of years doing things we were managing around 200-300 people. Every new season things are growing.”

The Nanaimo Sports and Social Club has many different sports on offer at once, in some cases on the same day.

“Right now we have dodgeball, basketball, the end of indoor volleyball and the end of squash. Coming up we have four on four and six on six volleyball and in a month we have our kickball season.”

On Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5 the NSSC is hosting an eight team California kickball tournament.

“This is our second year doing the Kickball Classic. We’ve been using it as a lead in to the kickball season. It’s pretty popular but it’s a sport we only offer one season of. Having the opportunity to add in an extra weekend of it is nice. It’s a neat opportunity for some players and teams to check it out before they commit to a whole summer of it.”

In the early days dodgeball was the number one activity but over time that has started to shift.

“We have outdoor volleyball starting up. We’ve now moved to offering two versions, a four on four and a six on six. Between two different nights we have 44 teams which is much larger than our biggest dodgeball season ever.”

The Nanaimo Sports and Social Club is open to adults of all ages and Hocker said almost every demographic is well represented.

“It’s a pretty wide age range. Our most popular range is 25-45. But we’ve got a lot of players who are just a couple of years removed from high school and we have a lot of people in their fifties.”

The most recent additions to the activity list for the NSSC have been squash, indoor volleyball and basketball.

Later in May will be the first ever sessions of lawn bowling.

For more information on the various sports and schedules visit the Nanaimo Sports and Social Club website, facebook page or instagram feed.

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