Intramural Sports Getting No Love?

The life of a high school varsity athlete is generally a complex mixture of sacrifice, team bonding, and glory. The value of this rewarding experience isn’t easily articulated, and playing high school sports is a unique experience for everybody. Once we arrive at college, we often stop playing our respective sports.

As we go through life, we realize that time is a precious commodity. This realization is arguably most ubiquitous while in college. Therefore, many former athletes decide to abandon their pursuit of on-field (or on-court) glory.

In addition to a lack of time, the abandonment of the sports we once played can also be attributed to other factors. People often just aren’t talented enough to play Division-I sports. In that situation there’s not much you can do but accept reality. Sometimes students take up other hobbies (like break dancing, Guitar Hero, or alcoholism). Regardless of the reason you no longer play competitive sports, for true athletes, one thing always remains the same: your desire to compete.

Luckily, intramural sports give people with that unremitting competitive streak a chance to compete and relive their glory days. I get to witness this phenomenon first-hand since I play a couple of intramural sports, in addition to serving as a referee for many.

For former varsity athletes, intramurals are a major part of the college experience.
People often get uber-competitive about their game. Profuse sweating: check; excessive profanity: check; passionate arguments: check; criticism of referees: check. Here at Columbia the majority of people are cutthroat about their academics, so naturally the majority of the people are gung ho about playing intramurals.

However, it’s important to remember that there are a variety of different people indulging in the intramural experience. In addition to the aforementioned former high school competitors, you get people that come out just to have a have a good time and get away from studying. These people are usually all laughs and smiles. They don’t care if they blow someone out or if they get beat handily—their demeanor is always the same: grins and giggles. The best games are the ones when the casual, laid-back intramural teams beat the intense, ultra-serious intramural squads. The juxtaposition of the smiles and laughs on one side with the complaints and vulgarity on the other side is priceless.

Intramural sports serve the purpose of providing people who aren’t varsity athletes a place to play organized, competitive games. With that being said, wouldn’t it be a shame if a major intramural sport, like basketball, wasn’t available for everybody?
Unfortunately, that seems to be the case this semester.

Apparently too many teams applied to play intramural basketball this year, and as a result, over 18 teams who signed up before the deadline are faced with the reality of being unable to play. Personally, I think that denying people the opportunity to participate in intramurals defeats the whole purpose of the concept. Some people literally spend all semester looking forward to participating in their favorite sports, and to be unable to do that is definitely a figurative kick in the nuts.

Bradley Skaf, CC ’10, is a dedicated intramural basketball player who candidly told me: “This sucks. Intramural basketball was all I had to look forward to this semester.” Trust me, Mr. Skaf, I’m sure that you’re not alone in your sentiments.

The main thing that organized sports offer is a bond between teammates, which comes with the desire to obtain a common goal. This is the number-one thing that former high school varsity athletes miss in college. If someone wants to go play basketball, volleyball, or whatever sport, then they can put some shorts on and go to Dodge whenever the mood hits them. However, playing random games with random people doesn’t give you the same adrenaline rush as playing organized sports. You miss the camaraderie, substance, and shared bond of organized sports. Intramurals offer that adrenaline rush, and for a lot of people on campus, weeknights spent sweating it out with your friends and teammates may be much more important than you think.