Nearly 1,000 students play a varsity sport at Dartmouth, each of them dedicating significant time and energy to their respective sports. Among them lies an even smaller community of 43 athletes who take their talents to two separate sports.
Three athletes discussed the social, mental and physical balance that comes with competing on two varsity rosters. Hann Humphreys ’23 plays hockey and rugby, Jenna Donohue ’24 plays hockey and lacrosse and Quintin Campbell ’25 plays squash and lacrosse.
All three athletes said NCAA-imposed hours restrictions introduce difficulties when balancing more than one sport. Current national rules stipulate that athletes must not engage in countable athletic activities for more than 20 hours per week in season and eight hours per week out of season. For Donohue, Humphreys and Campbell, that means removing themselves from one sport entirely while the other is underway.
Donohue, for example, said she spends the majority of the fall and winter terms with the hockey team. She joins the lacrosse squad in mid-February — promptly after the end of the hockey season.
“While I’m in hockey season, I try to attend team dinners for lacrosse, meetings with coaches and generally checking in,” Donohue said. “I try to go do as much stuff as I can without breaking any NCAA rules.”
Humphreys — a goalie for the varsity women’s hockey team and a flanker and lock for the varsity women’s rugby team — said they were recruited to Dartmouth for hockey in 2019, but the hockey season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Humphreys then started playing rugby while abroad in Denmark, eventually joining Dartmouth’s rugby squad in 2021. Humphreys said they ultimately rejoined the varsity hockey team in their final year at Dartmouth — turning them into a two-sport athlete.
“Once I got the opportunity to walk onto the rugby team here, I never looked back,” Humphreys said. “But the hockey team didn’t have enough goalies — we had one, and by NCAA rules, you need to dress a goalie on the bench as well. I was asked if I was willing to come back and help out, and I was, but rugby is still my main sport.”
This year, Humphreys excelled on the ice, picking up wins against Harvard University — a shutout victory in which they made 34 saves — and Union College, according to Dartmouth Sports.
Donohue plays forward for the varsity women’s hockey team and attack for the varsity women’s lacrosse team. Unlike Humphreys, Donohue said she gave verbal commitments to both teams during recruitment and entered Dartmouth with the intention of playing both sports.
Donohue said maintaining a love for both sports has been integral to her success athletically and academically, adding that she “finds it more fun and [she] feels more productive when [she’s] in season.”
After competing with the ice hockey team in the winter, Donohue said she turns to lacrosse in the spring.
“I have had teammates and coaches that are accepting and welcoming once I get to lacrosse season,” she said.
Campbell also divides his time between a winter and spring team. During the winter season, he competes with the men’s varsity squash team, and in the spring, he plays midfield for the men’s varsity lacrosse team. According to Campbell, managing both sports is “time-consuming but … rewarding.”
“I get to work across two teams all year round, which is awesome,” he said. “I’ve made so many lifelong friendships through both teams.”
Campbell added that he makes sure to take care of his body and stay in contact with the coaches and players on both teams during the on and off seasons.
In addition to their love of the sports themselves, Campbell and Donohue said playing two sports provides them with rewarding social spaces.
“Between the squash and lacrosse teams, that’s around 50 guys right there that I would consider to be 50 of my really close friends,” Campbell said. “I have a built-in social life with those two groups, so I haven’t found it hard to really balance social life. Still, for a lot of the year, I have to be ready to play matches on Saturdays and Sundays.”
Donohue said she feels similarly, sharing that the hockey team dominates her social life in the winter, while lacrosse dominates in the fall and spring.
