Something's rotten in the state of intramural sports.
I'm not talented enough to play varsity basketball at Tufts, but I still like to compete. And that puts me in a fairly substantial group of Tufts students who play intramural sports. Some of us don't quite have the talent, while others don't have the time, but I have a feeling a lot of us have a similar complaint.
The intramural sports at Tufts are sub-par. It's that simple.
I know Tufts doesn't have the budget of major schools, and sports are not a high priority of Tufts' money, but the intramural sports at Tufts need improvement. The school owes it to us, the people that, for one reason or another, don't play varsity sports. If the school can devote so much time and money to its varsity sports, why not for intramural?
"The overall numbers of students involved with IM sports is comparable to varsity," Athletic Director Bill Gehling said.
If you think about it, there's not too large a financial difference. Unlike Division I schools, where the big time sports teams bring in millions of dollars, the varsity sports at Tufts bring in no money for the school. Of course this is true, Tufts is a Division III university where academics are favored over athletics.
This is not to take away anything from the school's varsity athletes. They put in considerable time and energy into a sport and ask nothing in return. They play for the love of the game - just like intramural athletes. But I don't think it's asking too much to demand that the intramural sports be taken at least a fraction as seriously as the varsity sports.
Intramural athletes have the same reasons for playing as varsity athletes, and there are comparable numbers of participants, so that should mean intramural sports are higher on the priority list. And Gehling admits they should be.
"Improving our IM offerings is very important to me," he said. "I know that it is an area which requires improvement and I am determined to make that happen."
But if you don't think the Athletic Department puts intramural sports on the backburner, then just look at who's in charge. Janice Savitz is head of intramural sports in the fall, and she's a capable leader. It's just that she spends most of her time as the women's basketball coach and teaching Sports and Education.
Savitz would be perfectly capable of running the intramural sports if it were her first concern, not her third or fourth. But, until the Athletic Department decides to hire someone's whose first concern is intramural sports, it is making the statement to people like me that intramural sports lack importance.
The coach told me that the entire intramural program is "in limbo" right now, which is foreboding for someone entering his last season of intramural sports.
So let's say the Athletic Department got serious, hired an intramural director, and threw a little money towards the program, what should they do?
Like many problems, this one can't be solved my money alone, though it would help. But more than money, what needs to be done is a streamlining of the intramural sports. So here's a plan I have devised for the intramural sports program.
Eliminate some sports. I'm not here to judge which sports are better than others, but the Athletic Department should start by eliminating the least popular sports. That will clear up funds and time to dedicate to the popular sports.
Get a new person to run the sports. Like I said, Savitz, or men's soccer coach Ralph Ferrigno, who will run the sports in the winter, aren't bad, it's just that they can't make intramural sports a priority. It doesn't appear that Gehling has the funds to hire someone to fill this spot, but the school should make them available. I say hire someone - even a student - who will make running the program a high priority.
Raise the entrance fee. Right now it costs ten dollars for a team to enter. So it's rarely more than two dollars for a person to play. I appreciate the desire to make the sports affordable, but a slightly higher entrance fee would have two advantages. One, it would raise more money for the program, and second, teams would be more inclined to show up. Too often, games are forfeited because too few or no players show up from a team.
Hire referees. The Athletic Department should combine the new people running the sports with the increased funds from a higher entry fee to make the games more closely resemble professional sports. Hire referees - they don't have to be expertly trained, they just have to know the sports.
Get clocks and scoreboards at every game. At basketball games, you play for an hour, and that time starts once you kick people off your court. So you don't really know exactly when the game will end. Players deserve to know how much time they have left, and what the score is.
Get creative. Get a prize for the winner. Have large, posted schedules and results in the Athletic Department and on a website. Make people feel like they are part of a great program.
"Varsity sports obviously cost significantly more than IM for many reasons," Gehling said. "Still, it is important that we provide the necessary funds to make the IM experience a positive one."
It will take more than funds, but making the necessary changes won't be too hard.
