<p>I started club rugby at college this year without any prior experience. We just placed 3rd in the DIII Nationals a few weeks ago 
But we practiced slightly more often than 3 times a month…</p>
<p>I think there are two different sort of club sports.
Some sports like rugby and ultimate frisbee are not administered by the NCAA but organized as a club sport, so the club level is actually varsity.
In other sports the club level is for students who don’t want to (or cannot) go varsity - but even there the level of intensity ranges from purely recreational to highly competitive.</p>
<p>I would guess that most clubs are open to newbies, but there might be exceptions.</p>