BY TRAVIS TALARIC
Sports contributing writer
Even though the school year at SMU is only nearing the end of its first week, the intramural season is already upon us.
Registration for soccer, golf, sand volleyball and 3-on-3 basketball began Aug. 26 and will end on Sept. 2.
New to SMU intramurals this year will be a $25 fee for either missing a captain’s meeting or forfeiting games due to no-shows.
“The hope is that by instituting a fee, we will have far less teams not show up for their games,” SMU’s Assistant Director of Intramurals Jack Harper said.
Every team will be required to leave a credit card on file when registering, which will be charged for any absences throughout the season.
Joe Gaasbeck, a junior at SMU, is a frequent participant in SMU intramurals and believes this new policy will encourage students to take participation in intramurals seriously.
“I’m looking forward to the new credit card policy because too many teams forfeited games last year,” Gaasbeck said.
Harper claims that last year, either one or both teams did not show up to at 25 percent of games, causing these games to be forfeited.
But to make up for the fees that will be implemented this year, registration costs for SMU’s most popular intramural sports will be reduced from $50 to $30 per team.
This price reduction will affect soccer, flag football, volleyball, softball, basketball and indoor soccer.
In addition to the new pricing changes, Harper promises that this year’s officiating will continue improving from previous years, and he encourages any students interested in officiating to come to the introductory clinics, which are held before each intramural season begins.
The last new addition to intramurals this year will be the new intramural champion t-shirts, which will be modeled after tuxedos.
“We’re trying to keep intramurals classy this year,” Harper said.
For more information on SMU intramurals go to www.smu.edu/recsports/intramurals.
