Intramural regulations limit athlete participation

Story by Emily Niebrugge and Alanna Schmeichel

While not every athlete has the chance to participate in intramural sports — and with good reason considering the possibility of injury — women’s basketball players are encouraged to take part in intramurals, so long as they take place in the offseason.

“The basketball season is an extremely long season,” head women’s basketball coach Amy Williams said. “Because it’s such a long season, we feel it’s extremely important to allow our athletes to decompress outside of it.”

But still, there are rules and regulations in place to keep intramurals fair for all 1,800 students involved.

In general regarding eligibility, any faculty, staff, student or spouse of any of the three can play intramurals, assistant director for activities at the Wellness Center Shawn Clark said.  There are also no restrictions on the amount a credit hours a student is taking or the type of class the student might be enrolled in.

Eligible participants may play as many intramurals as they wish, Clark added in an email, but are limited to one single-sex team and one coed team per sport.

There are, however, more regulations for former and current athletes’ participation.

Only two individuals who have ever participated on a collegiate level in a sport related to the intramural activity they are attempting to participate in are allowed on the same roster. The coaches of each players team must also allow the athlete to participate. Current University of South Dakota athletes also cannot participate in an activity directly related to the sport they are currently involved in.

“For our players to have fun and build camaraderie, it’s important to me that our players have great chemistry and relationship building outside, and we feel (intramurals are) a great way for them to build that,” Williams said. “I’m not opposed to them getting together to play softball or volleyball, or whatever it may be.”

That flexibility is something the players also value and appreciate.

“It’s a nice change from basketball,” junior guard Tia Hemiller said. “We’re playing almost all year for basketball, and it’s awesome to play some of the sports I played in high school and not be a one-sport athlete. It’s fun to get close to people without the pressure — gaining of friendships and meeting new people.”

Junior center Margaret McCloud is aware of the risks, too.

“It’s a safer time to play in the spring to keep from getting hurt,” she said. “We’re very careful. When we play (volleyball) we wear our ankle bracelets and sometimes our basketball shoes to keep our ankles supported. It’s also not co-ed, so it’s a bit more of a fun environment and not quite as intense.”

Safety is exactly what Clark said is the ultimate goal.

“It is not in our hopes to discriminate against collegiate athletes,” he said. “I actually wish I could get every current varsity athlete at USD to play some type of intramural sport.  I’m sure the typical student who plays feels the same way as well.”

Still, Clark said it is important to keep things as fair as possible for everyone involved.

“We believe in using restrictions on former and current collegiate athletes to help level the playing field in all of our sports,” he said. “These individuals practice their craft almost every day whereas most of our non-collegiate athlete participants don’t practice until fifteen or so minutes before game time. We are in the business of getting as many participants as possible. However we must maintain a program of safety, quality and fairness first.”

(Photo: Junior Heidi Hoff spikes in an intramural volleyball game Monday evening. Hoff and six other University of South Dakota women’s basketball players banded together to create a team. Cristina Drey / The Volante)