Spring intramurals just around the corner

According to women's softball coach and intramural director Kris Talon, Tufts is dedicated to introducing its students to a lifetime fitness program. Because not everybody can be a varsity athlete, intramurals were created to provide a healthy, competitive environment for students who still wish to participate in team sports.

After a successful fall intramural season, it is almost time to once again begin intramural play. Students can organize teams to compete in indoor tennis, co-ed and all female basketball, indoor soccer, volleyball, flag football, and softball. All sports except flag football and softball will start Feb 22. The weather will decide when the latter two sports begin.

For those who participated in fall intramurals, there have been a few changes to the fashion in which the program is run. First, there will be no freshman league in the spring. Talon dubbed the league a success, but maintained that it is strictly a fall program.

"It was a joint effort with housing," Talon said. "Feedback was great, but it was a first semester type thing."

Another change is that sports such as basketball, indoor soccer, and tennis will have contests taking place on Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. into the evening. This is mainly due to the fact that the gym's facilities are constantly in use during the winter season. While the intramural game schedule is not set in stone, it is known that these sports will have weekend contests to go along with regular weekday games. Since teams only play once a week, squads will play on a weekday or the weekend, but never both.

"We have never played intramurals on Saturday before so it will take some getting used to for students," Talon said.

Also, there is now no fee for entering an indoor soccer team in the league. Last season there was a five-dollar entrance fee, but that rule was abolished for soccer. Unfortunately, basketball, flag football, and volleyball still have referees fees to cover, but instead of the fall's fee of five dollars a person, it has been changed to 30 dollars a team.

As with the fall season, the indoor sports of the spring intramurals will have six-week seasons and playoffs. Flag football and softball will have four-week seasons and playoffs.

Because there is no freshman league in the spring and many fall athletes now have time off from their varsity commitments, Talon expects a much larger turnout. This should not effect too much of the intramural players except for those students who choose to participate in more than one intramural sport.

"If we have three or four individuals on both teams we will do our best to schedule around it," Talon said. "If it is one individual, he might have to choose."

Talon's long term goals include getting more students to participate, achieving better organization within her regime, and finding a schedule that works well with students and facilities alike. She finds the largest problem in intramurals is teams with less dedicated players.

"Trying to find a way to minimize forfeits is a major obstacle," Talon said. "It's a pain in the neck when you come down to play and the other team doesn't show up."

To combat this problem, Talon has decided to eliminate teams who have forfeited twice during a season.

One of the purposes of intramurals as opposed to regular pick-up sports is for organization relating to proper scheduling. In addition, for sports such as basketball, football and volleyball, referees are used.

"[Regarding referees] we are going to run the spring much like fall," Talon said. "I think refs made a big difference. Players can just play, which separates intramurals from pick-up because of the presence of refs."

Although Talon has a solid core of referees returning for volleyball and basketball, there are open spots. Referees are compensated ten dollars per game and the program provides training.

This is the first season registration will be conducted online. Interested students can go to the Tufts athletic website ase.tufts.edu/athletics and click on the intramurals link.

It is important for students to register legally because illegal players are not allowed to compete in intramurals. Talon felt that this rule is important because illegal players are a liability to the University. Each student who participates must fill out a release form at the beginning of the season. The rules also stipulate that if an illegal player is used in a contest, the team using that player automatically forfeits.

Since this is Talon's first year as intramural coordinator, she is still learning all of the ins and outs of the league. She appreciates feedback on how she can better the program, but stresses that intramurals are only as fun as the students who participate in them.

"Our goal of getting people involved was achieved," Talon said. "We are always going to have forfeits, but we are really trying to get people to make a commitment."