From Pick-up Games to Finish Lines
For students of Explo at Yale, athletics is more than just your average student vs. staff soccer game. We've got sports covered — from classic favorites to water balloon volleyball. Â
The Cathedral of Sweat
The family of Payne Whitney, Yale class of 1898, wanted to fund a chapel in his memory. Yale already had two on-campus chapels, so the University persuaded the family to instead fund an athletic complex. Now nicknamed "The Cathedral of Sweat," the recently renovated Payne Whitney Gymnasium is the second-largest indoor athletic facility in the world.Â
Exercise Your Mind + Body
You like to move. You like to sweat. At Explo, you’ll have plenty of time and opportunities to do both. For a more structured experience, you can enroll in any of our afternoon athletic workshops (such as football, rugby, basketball, yoga, martial arts, or salsa dancing) or weekend sports clinics (crew, sailing, or golf). If you’re more into free form play, you can start your own games of ultimate Frisbee or soccer on the quad, head out with friends to the fields or tennis courts, or simply head to the Payne Whitney Gymnasium to get in a good workout.
The Cathedral of Sweat: Payne Whitney
Only at Yale, we like to think, can you work up a sweat in a building as majestic as a Gothic cathedral. The Payne Whitney Gymnasium’s features include:
- 4 air-conditioned basketball and volleyball courts
- 2 indoor swimming pools
- an indoor jogging track
- 15 squash courts (including the only four-glass-walled squash courts in North America)
- badminton courts
- martial arts and dance studios
- a 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art fitness center with free weights, weight machines, and cardio workout machines.
Sports Clinics
Play + Learn... From the Very Best
Among the exciting athletic possibilities at the program are sports clinics. Taught in Yale's premier athletic facilities, all sports clinics are coed and designed to accommodate students of varying ability levels. In addition to giving you tips and pointers about your technique, coaches can also give you advice about integrating varsity sports into your college experience.
Crew Sports Clinic
Every afternoon, Explo students have an open hour and a late-afternoon activity period during which a variety of athletic, artistic, and discussion based activities are offered. In addition to our regularly programmed options, we also offer a special 4-day crew sports clinic that operates during the open hour and late-afternoon activity period. Our afternoon crew sports clinic will introduce you to rowing in Yale's championship-quality training tanks. Join us and learn how to simultaneously keep your oar in the oarlock, move up and down your slides, and pull together as a team to keep your boat moving through the water. You will spend the last day of this clinic at Yale's boathouse, putting your practice to work on a rowing barge in the Housatonic River.
Students who choose the crew clinic will participate in crew in lieu of the open hour and afternoon activity period for the 4 days they are enrolled. Crew is only available to students who have selected workshops as their afternoon option.
Sports Clinic Cost: $175
Golf Sports Clinic
First Session: July 14
Second Session: August 4
This clinic will help you work on every facet of your golf game by emphasizing putting, driving, pitching, and full range swings. Coach Pulaski, named the 2003 Teacher of the Year by the Connecticut PGA, and his staff will give one-on-one instruction. After a day at the putting and driving ranges, you'll try your skills out on one of the difficult holes at the Yale Golf Course. The weekend golf sports clinic is a one-day commitment and takes the place of a regular weekend trip.
This clinic is a one-day commitment.
Sports Clinic Cost: $60
Sailing at the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club
First Session: July 13-14
Second Session: August 3-4
Come experience this two-day intensive sailing clinic for beginning sailors. Held at Yale's recently renovated sailing center, this clinic will provide eight hours of training with two Yale Sailing Instructors who will lead you through a number of sail and rigging demonstrations as well as thorough on-the-water training. Learn basic maneuvering, capsize and rescue, and landing techniques while you brave the waters of Long Island Sound. After just two days, you will be ready to charter your own (small) craft and sail off into the wild blue yonder. The weekend sailing sports clinic is a two-day commitment and takes the place of two regular weekend trips.
This clinic is a two-day commitment.
Sports Clinic Cost: $250
