Barry is a junior radio-television and secondary education double major and can be reached at [email protected].

Volleyball, soccer and football seasons are well underway and volleyball playoffs are almost upon us. Now is the time that reveals our champions. Real champions are looking for any tips to propel them to the finals. In today’s column, I wish to debunk some myths of intramurals for those soon to be champions.

Myth #1: Officials favor teams whose players include off-duty officials.

Wrong, in fact just the opposite is true. Imagine you are a new referee. You are pretty nervous because you know that some players can be pretty tough on the officials. You are inexperienced and uncomfortable with your responsibility.  Then you see you are officiating a team with another official on it. That person knows what you are going through and that helps. You know those players/off-duty refs have been in your position and understand the job challenges. Frankly, it makes it easier to make the call, as you can be pretty sure that they won’t yell at you. Eventually, all of our officials get the rules down and call an even, consistent game. Like all things it takes a little practice to be a good, solid official.

Myth #2: There is no good reason to bring my ID.

This one is definitely a myth. You might think that collecting IDs is unnecessary. But this is not a power kick that officials and supervisors use. This procedure is, like most things in intramurals, done for your safety and ours. Everyone who plays intramurals needs to sign a waiver to play. The IDs are a way for us to strengthen that waiver. Also, it allows us to keep track of the people playing. For instance, let’s say that someone gets hit in the head and is disoriented. The IDs give us official documentation of that person. If we simply went by the paper roster someone could claim they were somebody else. This way we have a picture ID to make sure we can help you and your needs specifically.

Myth #3: If you forfeit the first game of the season your team is removed from the league.

This is a new myth brought upon by a rule change this year. Last year, the rule was very similar to the Drake attendance policy. This year, however, there has been a rule change. A team is not kicked out of a league until they forfeit two games. No matter what the rules are though, do not forfeit! Forfeits can only be described one way: lame. There is really no upside to forfeits. The opposing team does not get to play. The officials do not get the experience they need. On top of all of that, your team loses. All of those things are just flat out lame.

Myth #4: Intramurals have the same rules as the NCAA.

Now this myth is just ridiculous. You can’t tackle people in football or slide tackle them in soccer. I know many people spent their childhood watching NCAA sports but just because we are in college doesn’t mean we play by collegiate rules in intramurals. If you want to play by those rules you need to be playing at the intercollegiate level, this is intramurals.

So that is it for this week. As always, stay safe and play ball!