Students who play intramurals have different views on how the sports should be played. Some say that intramurals should be less competitive, while others think they should be more competitive.
When students sign up for intramurals, they expect that the sport they play is either competitive or relaxed. “I was expecting it to be not goofing around necessarily,” sophomore Ashlee Punte said, “but more of a fun time than an intense competitive time.”
Junior Blake Schmidle said, “I knew a lot of people who I played soccer with in high school and football in high school, so I was expecting it to be somewhat competitive.”
Punte, who has participated in the flag football and soccer intramurals, said, “Flag football was more competitive than soccer.” Both sports are played on Wolf Field in the fall.
When students are asked about the idea of splitting the competitive players from the players who just want to have fun, they immediately say the size of the student body plays a role in why the Office of Student Activities has not implemented the idea.
“I think it would be smart for them to do that but I don’t know if that would work,” Curcio said, “I feel like you would get people who would want to play to have fun but still be a little competitive.”
Schmidle thinks it would be a good idea if OSA made two separate leagues and also started to allow players who played on the DIII sports teams to play in intramurals.
“There’s enough people who would fill both leagues, and I think competitiveness would get more people than the people who didn’t want to be competitive.”
“Intramurals should be a little of fun and competiveness mixed together,” Punte said, “You will know other people on the other teams so it ends up being sort of a bragging rights sort of thing.”
OSA has tried to keep the competitive level between the players to a minimum because it could end up hurting opposing players or teammates, but it is hard for OSA to make student’s not be competitive.
Some students partake in intramurals to be more social. Students playing in these games find more friends and people to hang out with outside of the game which is a reason that most of the noncompetitive players play in the intermural games.
“Our soccer team this year had players who wanted to play for fun then there were people who were super competitive” Nicole Curcio said, “They ended up fighting most of the time.”
Some students just play intramurals to have fun. “I’m definitely a competitive person, but I try not to be when I’m playing, I just try to have a good time,” Schmidle said.
A big reason for students to play in the games is to stay active and fit. The Body Shop is always an option for students to work out, but some students don’t like to work out inside and do that kind of fitness. The alternate way for them to get their exercise is to play in games and to not care who wins or loses.
It’s hard to tell when picking a team what kind of player will be on the roster. On the roster it’s just a name.
Ethan Weber, a flag football participant, said, “Keep in mind, they picked the teams.” Weber, a player who didn’t take intramurals seriously, said, “Some of my teammates took it seriously, and when we screwed up, they would let us know.”
The next season for sports in OSA starts in the spring with dodgeball, softball, and volleyball. They start in April and registration was due for teams on March 20.
