‘I’m not a very
good runner, so
that crosses out
soccer or football.
And I’m not
a big guy.
In high school,
I was mediocre
at everything.’
PHOTOS BY KEN CHARNOCK
Danny Monroe
There have been times when guys have
yelled at each other after blowouts, and
that’s when somebody steps in and reminds
everyone that we’re just here to have fun,
and that we’re a family.”
Dive in, find a home
One of the things that sport clubs do
best is introduce students to an activity
they never had a chance to experience
before coming to Carolina. From handball
to ultimate Frisbee, from cricket to roller
hockey, UNC has one of the largest programs in the country — nearly twice that
of many colleges. Even if you were the kid
who didn’t make the grade in elementary
school kickball, you might just wind up a
collegiate all-American in disc golf.
Just ask Danny Monroe. The graduate
student in biology admits he’s never been
much of an athlete.
“Most sports, I don’t show any greater
talent than the average person,” he said.
“I’m not a very good runner, so that
crosses out soccer or football. And I’m not
a big guy. In high school, I was mediocre at
everything.”
But during undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech, Monroe stumbled across a sport
club called underwater hockey. It’s played
on the bottom of a pool, using 14-inch
long sticks and a three-pound puck, and
has its origins in England, where scuba
divers played matches to stay in shape. The
athletes wear dive masks, snorkels and fins.
The game itself is much like ice hockey or
Danny Monroe
lacked a lot of the
tools of the athlete,
but he’s got great
vision. And that
serves him well when
swinging a 14-inch
hockey stick under
water. “It’s really
cool, because it’s not
like anything else.”
He, too, thinks he
wants to coach.
