Collegiate Times

There has been a significant increase this year in students who are registering for intramural sports.

This increase means that more and more teams are being wait-listed. The Intramural Sports league identified lack of fields, time, and referees as causes for so many waitlisted students. In an interview with the Collegiate Times, Kyle Warren, the graduate assistant for Intramural Sports, said that there is really no way to account for the number of teams the league expects to sign up.

In a school the size of Tech, it's inevitable that there will be space problems with events and organizations. However, unlike football games and concerts, which are special, sometimes one-time events, intramurals have always had the celebrated quality of being open to people of all talents and abilities. Unfortunately, the intramural league is losing that reputation now, as hundreds of teams are unable to play due to lack of fields, time and refs.

If there were an easy solution to the lack of space for interested students, the Intramural Sports League would have made room. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find enough space and time slots to accommodate even half of the rejected teams for sports such as flag football and soccer. It's unfortunate that students are enthusiastic about getting exercise and socializing with friends through sports, and yet if they don't register within 14 minutes, they can't play.

Perhaps there is room for change when it comes to intramural sports.

Currently, there is no minimum requirement of the number of players per team, except for gender minimum requirements for co-ed leagues. If teams had a higher minimum requirement in order to play, such as at least fifteen players for a nine-on-nine soccer team, then more students would have an opportunity to play.

Additionally, intramural games are played only on the weekdays. If Intramural Sports could open up fields and courts on the weekends, then more games could be played, which would allow for more teams in the leagues.

Communication between Intramural Sports and students should be developed in order to discuss solutions to the space problem. A student panel of intramural athletes could sit with Intramural Sports staff in order to brainstorm and generate ways in which more students would be able to participate in intramurals.

Until solutions are produced, students can find unofficial ways to make games and stay active. Find a hall mate whose team also did not make the league and plan pick-up games on the Drillfield or gymnasium courts. With almost 200 teams on the flag football waiting list, there are plenty of people looking to play. Pick-up games still contain elements of competition, teamwork and exercise without any rankings or playoffs.

Tech students are very active, and the fact that more people are registering for intramurals than the leagues have room for shows the enthusiasm for sports, healthy competition and exercise. Unfortunately, until changes are made to allow for more participants, too many of us are going to have to sit on the sidelines.