Strong ASU intramural program among nation’s best

     Who says athletics ends in high school?

     ASU’s students sure don’t say that as the university’s intramural sports program fields between 700 to 800 students on campus for athletic activity.


     ASU was ranked by the prestigious Princeton Review in part for its dedication to intramural sports. Out of over 2,500 four-year colleges, ASU was ranked 18th in the “everybody plays intramural sports” category for the 2012 year.


     “I think it is awesome,”  Jeromey Whitaker,  assistant director of intramural sports said. “We’re just going to try to improve our numbers and try to improve our participation and create opportunities for students to participate in our program.”


      Just like an NCAA program, intramural sports had to be built, but it couldn’t be built with scholarships.


     Whitaker said that building this organization starts with the students and advertisement and marketing play a role in getting people to join.


     Whitaker said that Rambunctious Weekend gets the word out about intramural sports and getting new students to join on campus.

   
     ASU’s intramural sports are overseen by the University Recreation Center or UREC.


     According to the UREC website, “Attendance at a registration meeting is mandatory if you wish to sign up a team,” the UREC official website said. “If a representative is not present at the registration meeting, a $30 fee is required to sign up a team. This fee must be submitted to the UREC Office by 5 p.m. the day after the registration meeting.”


     Whitaker said that if a student wants to join and does not have a team, the UREC has something they call, “free agent opportunities” where the student can join a team or the UREC will combine them with a team and it insures no one is left out.


     According to the ASU website, intramural teams can be coed or gender specific as well as providing extra leagues depending on the sport.


     “I think the intramural sports are great,” senior Marlissa McNease said. “They give us a way to feel like we are a part of something, gives us something to work towards and gets us out there to meet new people.”


     McNease is the quarterback of her intramural team and said she loves the opportunity to show off her skills at the position.


     Flag football is not the only sport that is played though. Volleyball, soccer, badminton and softball are just some of the 17 plus sports that UREC supports in their fall and spring seasons.


     Just like in collegiate and professional sports, there are those one or two teams that seem to form a dynasty. Teams such as Wolfpack, Vixen and Dynasty have been seen  in the final rounds of many different sports.


     Junior Kaitlyn Standard said that as a former college athlete, she would try intramural sports soon because she still wants to play the sports she loves in a laid-back setting rather than in the strict rules of the NCAA.


     “Our ultimate goal is to get as many students to participate in our program,” Whitaker said.