Ali Adair

Here at South Dakota State we have many different opportunities to get involved in our community. There are clubs, organizations, church groups and various things of that nature. There’s one organization on campus that I think is definitely worth your time, intramural sports.

Intramurals offer a wide range of activities for everyone to get involved with. They have water polo, racket-ball tournaments, and even a belly flop contest.

I have worked in the intramural department for two years now and have seen only one problem, a serious lack of involvement. Enrollment at SDSU is at an all-time high, but participation in intramurals could be a lot better. We always have a great turnout for your basic activities like football and basketball, but it could be better. Basketball filled all its time slots this year, which is great. We even had to create a waiting list. If more people would have signed up we could have made another time slot instead of making people wait.

You don’t have to be the best athlete to get involved in intramurals either. They are all about having fun, not who wins or loses or how great you are. They allow students to get out of their room one or two nights a week and forget about homework. Everyone needs some physical activity in their lives and playing sports is a great way to get it. It helps relieve a lot of stress. If you don’t have a team to join or know anyone forming a team, stop in the intramural office and fill out the free-agent list. Sometimes teams need extra players and the list allows an individual to get picked up by one.

Intramurals are a great way to get to know people too. If you don’t have a team for something, form one. A great way to do that is to ask around on your floor and make a floor team. Try to come up with a fun name. They create a great opportunitiy to get to know more people on your floor if you haven’t already.

You don’t even have to play intramurals if you want to get involved. Come and watch a game some night when there aren’t home varsity events. Stop at the HPER and check out the action. It makes for a nice study break. If you know people on a team, come watch them play and cheer them on. We occasionally get fans here and there, but the more people that come and watch, the greater the atmosphere will be for those playing and watching.

Another thing I am sad to see is the lack of involvement from the ladies. We hardly get any women to play. During our JACKS (horse) free throw and three point competition, no women showed up. As an athlete myself, I was disappointed about the turnout. There were so many years in the past when women couldn’t play sports and now we have an opportunity to play whenever we want, but women don’t always take advantage of that opportunity. If you played sports in high school, you don’t have to give it up. Intramurals are the perfect place to relive your glory days. There are also a lot of co-ed activities to get involved with so if you aren’t the best athlete but want to be involved, get a couple of boys to help pick up the slack.

It doesn’t cost much to get involved in intramurals. It costs $15 on Hobo Dough to join. If you come to the manager’s meetings and show up at all the games you get your money back, so really it’s free. Sometimes we even get cool things from our sponsors that we hand back to you. Who doesn’t want free razors and deodorant?

Maybe the intramural department hasn’t done a good enough job of advertising to get you to join. But we are changing that. Listen for our commercials on 90.7 KSDJ, or check out the calendar in the “Juice” for upcoming intramural events. Look around campus for blue and yellow flyers stating upcoming events. You could always stop in the office in the HPER, room 123. Roxy is the nicest lady and would love to see you. Either way, get involved. It’s great for you and great for the Intramural Department. Intramurals are what you make them and I think SDSU students can make them great.

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