Dirty cleats, bruises, twisted ankles and human collisions arein season. In case you have not heard, intramural soccer andvolleyball are more popular than ever.
This fall, volleyball has 38 teams total with sixco-recreational teams on the waiting list, a first in the historyof recreational volleyball.
Another difference from last season, said Chris Hutton,intramural director, “[For the most part] everyone is showingup this year.”
Last fall, forfeits plagued the fields and courts as students,who had shown initial interest in playing, failed to commit.Committed teams would show up at game time, only to find an emptycourt. Hutton identified residence hall teams to have the worstattendance of all the teams.
“The problem with residence halls [participation] isreally finding that core group of people to play,” saidHutton.
This year, senior Brian Vidrik, a first-time volleyball referee,has noticed the same teams forfeiting weekly, during his three-hourafternoon shift.
“I have seen a lot of forfeits this year; residence hallsaren’t showing,” said Vidrik.
After two forfeits, these teams will be eliminated from theirbracket and replaced by a team on the waiting list.
Volleyball
Despite a massive cardboard wall slicing through basketballcourt No. 3 in the Dedman Center, volleyball season continues withone rule change related to construction. Teams now play next to oneanother in courts No. 1 and No. 2. For safety, a thick white linenow divides the areas of play to prevent players from running intothe next court to play a ball. If a player crosses the white line,the other team will be awarded a point.
In planning volleyball, Hutton decided to use two courtssimultaneously from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays tokeep the courts open for badminton and basketball the remainingweekdays.
This set-up creates a competitive atmosphere between teams, asthey can preview the skills of their future opponents on theadjacent court before or after their game begins.
Of the new teams registered, Kappa Kappa Gamma saysparticipation and support are the key elements in their volleyballpresence this season.
“It’s going pretty well,” said team captainAmanda LaDue. “A lot more girls are coming to the games thananticipated,” she said.
Soccer
Fifty-six teams comprise intramurals soccer this year: 18co-recreational, 35 men’s and eight women’s teams.
The number of co-recreational teams increased this season,bringing more competition to that division.Fraternity/sorority’s co-rec teams now compete againstindependent co-rec teams.
“The league is a lot more competitive since they havecombined some of the brackets this year,” said two-yearsoccer referee, Mo Alturk.
The new bracket entails that fraternities no longer battle eachother exclusively in the beginning weeks, but now face independentteams too, said Altruk.
This change has always applied to the women’s soccerteams, since only a handful of them register each year, one ofwhich is a new independent team called Guapa.
Intramural soccer and volleyball even includes local graduatestudents, who compete in a separate bracket for soccer.
The law students, business graduates and UT Southwestern medicalstudents each have at least one team competing in either volleyballor soccer this fall.
Intramural sports serves as an outlet for stress and a breakfrom routine as one graduate student explained.
“It keeps me from playing video games,” said MarkRoeser, a second year medical student playing for The Scrubs, anall-male soccer team.
Visit intramural sports online at recsports.smu.edu to findscore updates, game times, the top 10 ranked volleyball and soccerteams and upcoming registration information.
Flag football and golf registrations open from Sept. 20 to Oct.1.
