Winter term has begun, and the sign-ups for winter intramural sports have opened. University of Oregon Student Recreation Center hosts leagues and tournaments for various sports each term.
Alana David and Lilly Skorohodov, both UO sophomores, paired up for a cornhole tournament during freshman fall term and enjoyed getting to know people throughout the tournament. “We did really badly all round,” Skorohodov said, but they ended up staying for about three hours and playing four rounds of cornhole.
David and Skorohodov lived in a residence community, Thrive Housing Network, which promotes wellness, and the community provided an intramural membership to the residents.
David also played in a kickball tournament in the spring term with her friends. “It was definitely one of the highlights of the year,” David said. She played soccer in grade school, but it was her first time playing kickball.
Having to play team sports encourages students to build community in a “fun” way David said. She also enjoyed going to her friends’ intramural soccer games to cheer and show support.
Sean Graninger, the assistant director of the intramural sports program at UO, said the program usually gets 4000 to 5000 students each year, bringing in about 25% of the student body to participate.
The university has been trying to encourage female-identifying students to participate in the program and has been setting participation records every year for the last four years.
This winter, UO PE and Rec will be hosting basketball, dodgeball and floor hockey as league sports as well as tournaments such as badminton, stadium football, outdoor soccer and volleyball. League sports have about three weeks of games, and tournaments have one to a couple days of games depending on the bracket.
Maddison Perring, the Intramural Sports Program Lead, has been actively involved in the intramural program. She usually plays at least one sport per term, and she and her team have won the “winning T-shirts” at the end of the season multiple times.
Perring also played basketball in Unified Sports, which is a unique opportunity where students get to play with Special Olympic athletes in Eugene and Springfield communities.
Although some teams may be competitive, Perring said the program collects a broad range of skills and has a supportive atmosphere that is understanding of different experiences and skills in the sport.
“Many of my friends who signed up for the team never played sports,” Perring said.
Not everyone can play Division I sports, and intramural sports provide recreational sport opportunities that participants can enjoy whether they grew up playing the sport or trying out a new sport.
There is a $25 membership fee to be part of intramural sports each term, and there are no limits to the number of teams each member can participate in.
“Some heavy users join eight, nine or even 10 teams each term,” Graninger said as he saw some students joining multiple basketball teams across different sports.
Graninger shared a study that the graduation rate and participation in intramural sports had correlations as well as the sense of belonging “Being in a team makes you feel responsible in a sense that you have to show up and play for the team,” Graninger said.
Students can join intramural sports without a team by signing up as “free agents,” which allows students to sign up for a sport and match with a team. There are also opportunities to get involved without playing — UO PE and Rec hires about 100 student workers as paid referees.
Registration for the teams will close once the teams get full or on Jan. 22.
