After leaving behind a college community and adjusting to a new lifestyle out on the job market, many recent college graduates find it overwhelming to re-establish the social life of their undergraduate glory days.
For recent MSU alumnus Cody Wilson , however, this notorious transition has become an outlet for making new connections and finding balance in his life.
After recognizing that many of his close friends would be moving away from East Lansing to pursue their new careers, Wilson joined the Greater Lansing Sport and Social Club a few months before his graduation. There he was able to make new friends with students in his area, rather than from his college.
With the intent of creating a social atmosphere for young professionals in the Lansing area, the GLSSC organizes co-ed teams that meet once per week to compete against each other in a large amount of different sports before heading to the bars.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of work and just blow off some steam,” Wilson said. “Even though you’re on different teams, everyone is so connected and it just turns into one giant GLSSC team once we get to the bar and everyone starts mingling.”
The club offers two leagues each season where members can choose between dodgeball, flag football, kickball, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball and bowling, depending on the time of year. While most individuals focus on the social aspect of the club, Wilson said this does not take away from the competition.
According to GLSSC Director Josh Sherry, the club uses this competitive nature to encourage participants to socialize with members from other teams. In the dodgeball league, for example, any man who hits a female player in the head with the ball is expected to buy her a pitcher of beer following the game.
“It opens up conversation and makes it more fun,” Sherry said. “Not everyone is an extrovert, so if we can just break down that barrier, it makes it that much easier for people to build relationships.”
Since the club consists of individuals in their mid-20s to early 30s, Sherry said the games are purposely set at later times during the week in order to accommodate the majority of participants who work a typical 9 to 5 job.
As most of the members are Lansing residents who are well-established in their careers, Sherry said the GLSSC can also serve as a source of networking, specifically for the upperclassmen and graduate students from MSU who participate .
“We keep the young professional demographic together,” he said. “Whether participants become involved in GLSSC for the physical activity, the food and beer specials we run at the bar, the networking, or just to have something fun to break up their work week, we try to provide a fun concept that people see a value in.”
