All Fun and Games
March 29th, 2006
By Archived Story
Ninjas, Hawaiians and Gothics. No, it’s not Halloween. This is the different attire worn by a team in my intramural volleyball league from week to week. Since there isn’t a dress code for intramurals, they decided to make their own. Many students, like myself, play intramurals at the U to have fun and stay active during their time at the U.
Since most students at the U can’t compete competitively at the varsity level, like the Gopher Men’s Basketball team, a variety of intramural sports are available. These sports range from broomball, to bowling, to hockey. Many people play intramural sports. U Intermural director, Vinh Chung, said the goal of intramurasl is, “To provide leagues and tournaments to all different skill levels and encourage social interaction.”
The beautiful thing about intramurals is that when some leagues come to a close, others are beginning. Right now, basketball and volleyball leagues are winding down, while indoor soccer and softball are about to begin.
When and Where
Sign-ups for intramurals usually take place during the second week of both fall and spring semester. Signups for summer leagues this year will be June 6 and 7. During the summer there are only two sports offered, outdoor soccer and softball. Both coed and open leagues are offered for these sports. One nice thing about the summer leagues is that students don’t have to be taking summer classes to play..
If you don’t have enough people for a full team, there is the free agent program. This program is where people sign up to be placed on a team that needs extra players. The free agent program is available for every sport, at every skill level and there are usually about three or four free-agent teams per sport. Chung said, “We’ll have some teams that will ask for free agents … we try to save some slots and try to put the free agents together with other free agents.”
Intramural sports are played all around campus. If you’re on the St. Paul campus and looking for intramurals nearby, outdoor soccer and bowling are played on the St. Paul campus. All other sports are offered on the East or West Bank.
While intramural sports seem to be all fun and games, some sports get extremely competitive and physical. Some “tough guys” have been suspended and banned from intramurals for sportsmanship issues such as fighting. Chung says these incidents occur “usually around finals time or midterms … when it’s stressful.”
While the intramural sports program at the U is very successful, Chung says the rec sports program doesn’t plan on adding any new sports in the near future due to a lack of space for leagues to be played at. Right now the goal is to enhance the currently existing programs for the participants.
Intramural Sports Offered:
Ultimate Frisbee
Broomball
5-on-5 Basketball
3-on-3 Basketball
Bowling
Hockey
Indoor Soccer
Outdoor Soccer
Softball
Volleyball
Flag Football
