Average Joes get involved in athletics

Some of the students who don’t have the opportunity to play on the

University of South Dakota sports teams or club sports are getting ready to compete against other college students on another level. Students are forming volleyball, softball and dodgeball teams to compete in intramurals for the next two months.

Graduate Assistant Dirk Waite, who is helping the director of wellness Steve Mayer with intramurals, said every intramural program is important for schools because it gives students a reason to get out of the house and be active while breaking the monotony of school work.

“It gives students a place to relax out of school and keep fit,” Waite said. “A lot of people play intramurals to stay fit and just to get a break from school.”

Waite said there has been a transition from how the intramural system used to work, which involved teams coming into the Wellness Center to sign up.

Students are now able to use the IMLeagues website to sign up for a league.

“The website is used for the big leagues, not necessarily for the tournaments,” Waite said. “It allows us to go on and schedule games and for students to create their teams online while reducing the paperwork.”

IMLeagues posts all the teams as well as the season schedule for each league. The scores and statistics for each team are also provided on the site.

Sophomore Wade Wilkinson, softball team captain of the Delta Tau Delta/A Phi team, said the new system is much more user-friendly than the old one.

“It’s so much more organized and convenient,” Wilkinson said. “This way anybody and everybody can sign up, and everyone on your team can see when you play and who you play.”

Wilkinson said intramurals are a good way to meet new people.

“It gets students involved outside of the classroom, clubs are a good way to do it, but not everyone wants to do that, so intramurals give students another chance to get involved,” Wilkinson said.

Jessica Krout, graduate student and the ‘Lets Get Physical’ softball team

captain, said intramurals give students a chance to bond with their classmates.

“Just having something we can all enjoy and do together is really nice,” Krout said. “Vermillion does really have a lot of options and sports is a good outlet.”

Senior Michael Weckman plays on the ‘Sigma Alpha Epsilon’ volleyball team.

He said intramural sports get more intense and competitive than most

people think.

“It’s hard to be very competitive because the reffing isn’t always the best,” Weckman said. “But we like to have fun and we take it pretty seriously. Since we’re guys, none of us played on a high school team but we think we’re pretty good.”

Weckman also said it’s a great way for brotherhood bonding.

“Our frat usually puts together a team for every intramural sport,” he said. “It’s a good way for us to bond outside of typical Greek events. It gives us a chance to interact with other people, too.”

With busy schedules during the spring semester, Weckman said there’s not always time to go to the gym  and workout. Intramurals give students the opportunity to have fun and get their workouts in, he said. Volleyball and dodgeball have good fortunes of being indoor sports, but softball can only be played outdoors.

With the winter-like weather still overcasting Vermillion, many teams have been unable to play their games due to cancellations. Games are cancelled due to cold temperatures and snow on the ground.

It’s not too late. Students can still participate on an intramural team by signing up on the intramural team website.

Reach reporter Payton Randle at [email protected]