Intramural games are more than just balls soaring through the air and light competition at Drake University.
Uneducated intramural participants and spectators may be under the assumption that intramurals are just “fun and games.”
This assumption could be rapidly disproven upon attendance at any intramural event. Sweat, choice words and oftentimes people accompany the balls in flight on the intramural courts and fields, all in the name of some good old competition.
Thus far during the 2010-2011 school year, 1,761 different males and 853 different females have participated in intramural sports at Drake.
“The general attitude of players is very serious and competitive, but there are always the outlier teams that are just there to have fun,” Intramural Coordinator Matt Gasser said.
Basketball draws the most participation in intramurals with a wide variety in skill and motivation.
Although Drake students maintain a competitive attitude, sometimes it is hard avoid the humor in the events that ensue throughout the year.
“Competition can bring about the best and worst in people, and intramural officials get to witness it all,” intramural official Frances Thomas said “And while I love a good nail-bitter, my favorite basketball game was Fiji Duff vs. Phi Delta Chi. The Duff team is notoriously known for running ridiculous plays and stretching the rules.”
Thomas explained how one of the Duff players was fed up being on the losing team, so the player reversed his jersey and played for the other team while receiving a technical foul during that game.
Intramural games often expose different personality characteristics of people not usually shown in class and sometimes much more.
“One of my weird memories of officiating intramurals would be the Pike vs. SigEp flag football game,” official Joanie Barry said. “It was my job to makes sure there were no penalties in the line of the end zone, and I was very focused on the player with the ball. Someone went for the player’s flags and missed. Instead of grabbing his flags he completely pulled the poor kid’s shorts off and I had a very awkward view of his butt.”
Whether students are looking for competition or a good laugh, Drake intramurals offer them the opportunity to let time fly by while they are having fun.
