With football season just beginning and the baseball playoffs approaching fast, 'tis the season for heated athletic competition.
For those athletes not going pro straight from of high school, playing soccer at North Carolina, or even suiting up for varsity competition at Tufts, intramurals (IMs) offer a fun and laid back way to satisfy the competitive appetite.
In 2002, the intramural program coordination duties were given to the softball office. Former head coach Kris Herman and then assistant coach Cheryl Milligan tried to enhance the program's popularity.
"[We] tried to build it up a little bit, make it a little more organized," Milligan said. "We added a freshman league in the fall and just tried give a little oomph to the program."
With Herman's resignation and relocation to Williams College, Milligan will now take control of the program and make some small adjustments for the softball office's sophomore season of intramurals.
"Last year was a learning process for the softball office," Milligan said. "Without really reinventing the wheel, we essentially had to reinvent the wheel. Hopefully we will be offering some new sports as we go along, like badminton this fall. There was a big cry for badminton. But there won't be any major structural changes."
As was the case in 2002, there will be two groups of intramural sports this fall. The freshmen-only league will feature coed indoor soccer and volleyball.
"We try to create a bigger, better campus experience," Milligan said. "[It's good] to jump in as a freshman and create those bonds with teammates that playing sports can do. It also gives first years [a chance] to acclimate themselves to the athletic facilities and playing intramurals."
Over 25 percent of last year's freshmen participated in these two sports alone. Members of the class of 2007 are just as excited as their predecessors about IM's.
"I played soccer for about eight years, but was on hiatus for a while," freshman Bryan Shilowich said. "I was in a club sport outside of high school varsity, but now that I'm on a closed campus, I'm highly interested in the intramurals here at Tufts, especially soccer."
This time around, freshman games will be played on Wednesday nights between six and ten. Teams do not necessarily have to be dorm based, but many athletes feel playing with the people they live with builds camaraderie.
"I would like to participate with people I know," Shilowich said. "I also look forward to meeting friends with the same athletic interests I have."
Soccer games will be held in the Gantcher Center and volleyball matches will take place in the Carzo Cage in Cousens Gym. There will be a six week long regular season followed by playoffs.
As for the rest of the student body, faculty, staff, and freshman needing more IM options than just soccer and volleyball, regular intramurals begin later this month as well.
Participants can choose from flag football, basketball, softball, indoor soccer, volleyball, tennis and field hockey. Each person can play as many sports as he/she would like, but cannot be on more than one team in any sport.
The popularity and variety of intramural sports is largely due to students' enthusiasm for competition and team building similar to high school athletics.
"I was a high school athlete, but playing varsity in college seemed way too intense and time consuming," sophomore field hockey player Erin Gregory said. "But I didn't want to give up the sport."
Though competitive, intramurals offer a chance to play with a once a week time commitment and relaxed atmosphere.
"[Intramurals] are very laid back," Gregory said. "It's pretty much the highlight of my week."
As for those varsity athletes craving more competition, regulations limit the number of varsity or past varsity players to one per team in the varsity sport they played. Simply put, if a varsity basketball player wants to play IM basketball, he/she can be the only varsity basketball player on the team.
However, if nine varsity softball players want to form a soccer team, they can all play on the same squad.
Intramural play begins the week of Sept. 22, to sign up, visit http://ase.tufts.edu/athletics and click on the intramurals link.
More from The Tufts Daily
