If your idea of "the college experience" is tailgaiting with friends every Friday night before the big football game, think twice before choosing Hollins. Though the university does boast an undefeated football team (a running joke on campus), school spirit is not up to par with other schools; you'll never see students painting their bodies green and gold and running naked onto the soccer field. Well, not in support of an athletic event, anyway. The athletic department has made a big effort in the past few years to boost attendance to the games by holding pep rallies and giving out prizes, and game attendance has increased. Still, school spirit is mediocre. Hollins doesn’t even have a mascot!
What Hollins does have is an excellent horseback riding team—they’ve qualified for the national IHSA show eight years in a row—and a great outdoor program that has won competitions in canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, and bouldering. The varsity sports include basketball, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, and volleyball, and their performance varies from year to year. Hollins also has clean, up-to-date facilities, complete with pool, sauna, fencing studio, workout room, two indoor basketball courts, indoor rock climbing wall, nine outdoor tennis courts, a soccer field, an indoor horseback riding ring, 43 horse stalls, and outdoor paddocks.
Hollins is a great place to get involved with a sport you didn’t play in high school. For example, some students join the lacrosse team without having ever played it before. The school also offers some fun, low-commitment club sports like fencing, cross country, martial arts, and softball. Someone who wants to have fun playing a sport without taking it super seriously—at least not as seriously as she would at a Division 1 school—would be happy at Hollins.