SMU Intramurals is a program that runs off student involvement – from the ones that play the variety of sports, to those who officiate them. Despite the participation of various student groups, there are also those who know very little about this athletic opportunity.
Answers are found at the office of Jack Harper, the assistant director of Intramurals/Sport Clubs.
“He knows what he’s doing and knows what it takes to be a good ref,” senior Quentin Major said. “He embodies professionalism in his work and his experience shows.”
Major was one of a hundred students who were hired as intramural officials last year.
He says that the experience taught him about being level-headed in the tense situations of games and provided insight into the tough job of an official.
Harper was an intramural official and supervisor at Texas Tech while he was an undergraduate, which led to a graduate assistant job at Oklahoma State, where he gained experience working in an intramural program.
After he graduated from Oklahoma State, he came to SMU in the fall of 2006.
According to Harper, since his arrival at SMU the overall participation in the program has increased all across the board, in line with other intramural programs in the region.
Harper says the biggest challenge is ensuring that the staff is prepared to perform their jobs at the level expected by the players.
“Officiating is one of those things that no matter how good you are, people always want you to be better,” Harper said.
When a student asks around about the intramural program a name they probably won’t hear is Michael Sasala.
Sasala is the assistant manager of Intramurals/Sport Clubs. His main duties include the training of officials, ironing out schedules and responding to emails from players to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible.
He and Harper divide the sports between themselves so that each can head whichever sport they feel they can manage best. By doing so, they are able to devote more time and energy to the players and officials in their respective sports, giving each season the best chance for success.
Sasala lived in Seattle, Wash. until he left to get his masters in recreation at the University of Idaho. He moved to Dallas in May 2011 when he got the job at SMU.
Sasala was an intramural official as an undergraduate at Idaho and became a supervisor when he was in graduate school.
Sasala feels that while all participants benefit from the experience, there are some students who get a little more out of it.
“We have a lot of participants who played sports all through high school, but weren’t necessarily good enough to play at the next level,” Sasala said. “This gives them a way to come out and play at a competitive level.”
Sasala conducts most of the officials’ training prior to the start of each sports season and says the training is his favorite part of his job.
“I really like working with the refs,” he said. “That’s what I did and I like working with the students and helping them get better.”
For his first two years on the Hilltop, Harper was running the program by himself, with no assistant manager.
In 2008, SMU Intramurals/Sport Clubs was able to hire its first assistant manager.
“Ever since then [2008], we have been able to spend more time on the training of officials, of staff and making sure that everything is in the best possible shape for the participants as it possibly can be,” Harper said. “Michael [Sasala] is a huge asset.”
Harper feels that with Sasala there they are able to spend more time fine-tuning the skills of their officials and can focus more on the little things that need to be done so the program is something which students enjoy and continue to enjoy.
The product is already being tested with sand volleyball, soccer, three-on-three basketball and singles golf intramurals currently underway and the next registration deadlines are approaching in October.
