Barry is a junior radio-television and secondary education double major and can be reached at joan.barry@drake.edu.
The goal of intramurals is for everyone to have fun. College is tough. Students deserve a break from the chaos that is college life. As athletes, it is easy to get caught up in the competition of the game. The purpose of this article is to remind everyone why intramurals are so great. Also, it is important to remember how to keep it fun. Last week, I provided a guide to the technical side of intramurals. This week is a different type of guide. A guide to the people you need to know.
Officials: There is one way to describe our officials: incredible. Officials choose to work hard for minimum wage. What other on-campus jobs include: running in the heat, wind, rain and snow all the while making snap decisions that half of those involved don’t agree with (kind of like a presidential election). Most officials memorize the rules of eight different sports. It is easy as an athlete to argue with referees. But before you start making jokes about NFL replacement referees, I have a challenge for you.
Put yourself in the place of an intramural official. It is football. You’re positioned as line judge, which means you are almost constantly mobile. The offense is set, then you notice one player on the defense doesn’t have his flags on. Before you can even process that penalty, a wide receiver jumps early drawing the defense. Then a defensive player uses his arms to fight through to the quarterback as a linebacker sticks out his foot and trips the defender. You blow the play dead because of the false start. Players from both teams descend on you screaming. The offense is screaming because the defensive player didn’t have his flags on. The defense says that the false start should count and that you should have told them the player had his flags off in the first place. What’s the call? Also, it’s your first week of work. You have never played or officiated football before.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, then this is a good time to bring up a great intramural resource.
Supervisors: If you have an issue, talk to the supervisors. When it’s 30 degrees out, they are the people bundled up in the golf cart. No matter how entertaining your intramural games may be, they are not your audience. They are your resource for all things intramurals. Part of a supervisor’s job is to give pointers to referees. However, another part of their job is to help explain the rules to players. Supervisors are armed with the rulebook of every intramural sport. Many people don’t know how helpful supervisors can be. If you are consistently noticing a call that our officials are missing, talk to the supervisors about it. Captains have every right to mention a concern or question they have to the supervisors. We just ask that you speak respectfully to us. As they say, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
The Boss Man: Everyone should know this by now. If you have a serious problem, talk to Bill. Bill Moorman is the Intramural Coordinator. Contact him at bill.moorman@drake.edu. He’s a cool guy to get to know, especially if you like to longboard.
I will leave you with a quick rule reminder. In basketball, the top of the backboard is out of bounds. As always stay safe, and play ball!
