Bulldog Rocket League club quickly increasing in popularity
Bulldog Rocket League competing in a tournament at Mystic Lake Casino. Photo courtesy of Callan Grunwald.
UMD has over 250 student organizations on campus that range anywhere from Greek Life to the Lettuce Club. However, one of the clubs that is new this semester and quickly gaining popular interest is Bulldog Rocket League.
Rocket League is an online video game that is a mix between soccer and a demolition derby.
The club was started by team captain Callan Grunwald who is currently a sophomore at UMD with a major in computer science. Grunwald started the club after he met a couple of other UMD students who play Rocket League. He started to wonder how many other students were also interested in the game.
“We got a big turnout right away with 42 people signing up in the first week,” Grunwald said.
The Bulldog Rocket League club offers two different types of involvement.
Team Captain Callan Grunwald. Photo by Eema Ibrahim
The first type is for the casual player. These players are people who like to play for fun and are looking for an easy way to meet new friends through Rocket League.
The other type of involvement are the competitive players who compete in online and offline tournaments against different teams and colleges throughout the country.
There is the main varsity team that competes in all of the tournaments and league play. The two leagues that Bulldog Rocket League are apart of is the Collegiate Rocket League which takes place during fall semester, and the Collegiate Starleague which is during the spring semester.
The varsity team has only three sports available and requires high skill and hours of practice.
“I play around two to four hours a day and think I’m at 1,300 hours overall at the moment,” Grunwald said.
One of the varsity team’s most recent tournaments was at Mystic Lake Casino where they finished fifth out of 32 teams.
As for future tournaments, the team is looking to increase the number of players while also looking to increase their skill to start becoming a nationally recognized squad.
“We aren’t top ten worthy yet, but we are starting to get up there and become a threat to other colleges,” Grunwald said.
The club is free. They are always looking for new experienced or inexperienced players.
To join Bulldog Rocket League, visit their team’s page on Bulldog Link.