Sports
Why is seemingly everyone at Cal Poly so active?
Ash Pickett is a Business Administration Junior and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group. Health is wealth. It’s a bit of a silly phrase but I’m a big subscriber to it, and so is everyone else at Cal Poly, or so […]

Ash Pickett is a Business Administration Junior and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
Health is wealth. It’s a bit of a silly phrase but I’m a big subscriber to it, and so is everyone else at Cal Poly, or so it feels. It’s pretty bizarre just how physically fit people at this school are on average. Our students are on another level.
Maybe this is just because I come from a suburban town in the Bay Area and I’m not used to this kind of culture, but it’s been pretty shocking to witness. Most people I know living in San Luis Obispo call some kind of physical activity one of their primary hobbies. Rock climbing, surfing, running, biking, pilates, yadda yadda.
Not only is this true, but people also seem to talk about these hobbies all the time. I’ve always felt like there’s a kind of expectation to be active, and so people loop activity into conversation wherever they can. To be clear, I think hobbies are a super fun and normal thing to talk about, they just show up in many more conversations at Cal Poly.
So we know that Cal Poly students are very active and that they like to talk about. Today I want to talk about why that is, and how it influences students.
I have two theories as to the “why.”
One is obvious: the environment. San Luis Obispo residents constantly boast about the town’s strikingly unique location.
Ethan Federman, a business administration senior and the Founder and President of Field Studies Club said that “Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo are places that embody movement. San Luis Obispo is located perfectly along the nine sisters volcanic plugs and hills that create consistent slopes around town. It can appease most people’s appetites for exercise and adventure.”
I’d agree that SLO has everything an outdoorsy person might want. A short drive to beautiful beaches for the surfers, the swimmers, and recently, the wave skiers; not too far from mountains for the climbers, the hikers, and the trail runners; and beautiful State Parks nearby and National Parks in relatively close proximity for the backpackers, the campers, and the adventurers. Anyone with a soft spot for nature is usually drawn to SLO, and loving nature often goes hand in hand with loving physical activity.
I’ll admit my next theory is also obvious, but it’s certainly less talked about. It’s no secret that money has an impact on health – partially due to chronic stress and physiological strain associated with a lack of wealth that can, over time, harm people’s health.
Cal Poly is an expensive school (due in part to my earlier point of its ideal environment), and in that same vein, the socioeconomic breakdown of Cal Poly leans very heavily toward the upper-middle class. This follows the research that money is generally positively correlated with health.
I’m not here to say that more money is a direct cause of better health or more physical activity in SLO, because we all know that correlation and causation are two separate things, but rather that it’s interesting to think about how Cal Poly’s socioeconomic breakdown might play a role in its culture.
Federman talked about how SLO culture “pushes students to go outside their comfort zone and take on athletic challenges on top of their academic ones.” In his Field Studies Club, approximately 50% of his members are first-timers in the respective disciplines of the trips they attend.
Any culture that can push people to try new things and expand their scope of learning beyond the classroom is a great thing, in my opinion.
I asked one of the most active people I know, business administration senior Bobby Erben, how that culture of physical activity has impacted him. He said, “I have been involved in competitive sports my whole life, so when I arrived at Cal Poly and wasn’t actively competing, I felt like something was missing. Part of the reason why I love this school so much is because I was easily able to find a community of people who felt the same way, and who want to connect by doing some sort of physical activity together.”
There’s a lot of pressure in SLO to be outside as much as possible, go on exciting adventures, and be your healthiest possible self. It’s my belief that practicing healthy habits every single day should be a priority, but it won’t always be reality, especially as busy college students.
My advice to students feeling burdened by this pressure is to remember that you’re allowed to take breaks and relax, but learn to embrace this culture if it aligns with your values, and take from it what resonates with you and what works for your life. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but push yourself to be better.
A culture centered around physical activity is one that builds strong community and lifelong bonds, things I think are some of the most important takeaways from college.
That culture I’m talking about really is unique, and I personally feel really lucky to live in it.