Getting Involved in Intramural Sports
I have played club soccer almost my entire life and when coming to Florida State, I knew that I wanted to continue to do so. Luckily, Florida State offers over eighty different intramural sports leagues. Not only did joining intramural sports help me to continue to play soccer, but it also helped me meet a lot of new people. I am from North Carolina, so when I came to Florida State, I did not know many people. Joining an intramural sport is beneficial socially and physically. Not only did it help me socially, but it was also a good and fun way to get out and exercise.
The league I played in was 3v3 soccer. This means there are only three people from your team at one time. This is opposed to the usual eleven a side. The field is also shortened. When I showed up for the first game, I expected it to be a breeze and I was wrong. People actually took it very seriously .If you won the league, then the winning team got a championship shirt. Apparently , this was a very coveted item. Also, most people who were playing were actually really good. These players obviously had experience playing soccer in the past.
I am actually a bit of a soccer snob. I was really worried that the other players were going to be bad. I am not the best soccer player out there, but I like to play good soccer. When my teammates are not good, or don’t really know how to play well, it isn’t fun for me. I end up annoyed and frustrated. It is something I need to work on.
The first team we played was team of all girls. They really were not good. I was actually secretly glad I wasn’t a free agent on their team. We ended up killing them. It was good for our team to have a first game like this because we could assess each others skills by playing so freely without pressure. I did however think that if all the teams were like that first team, then we were assured the coveted championship shirt. However, that was the only team we played that was unskilled. The other teams were very competitive and while we won a few games, all of the games were very close and competitive. It is the kind of soccer I like.
The game itself was a good workout. Even when I was on the sidelines, when it was my turn to sub out, it wasn’t long before I was back in the game. We only had four people on my team, so there wasn’t a lot of time spent not playing. The games are only 25 minutes. There are two ten minute halves and five minute break in between. Typically during the half our team would discuss what adjustments to make in our strategy depending on if we were winning or losing.
Our league had a total of 6 games. Most nights we played two games, but when we got farther into the season it became single elimination. Beginning the third week, we had playoffs. If you won, your team stayed in the tournament. If you lose, your team was done. Our team did make it to the playoffs, but then we lost the first game of the playoffs. We were then out and done!
In addition to Florida States’ wide variety of sports offered, you can also choose what level you want to play and on what days. There are certain days where you can attend a “drop in” and play in a pick-up game for an hour without committing to any team. The league I chose was “a season”. A league that lasts a season means you choose what sport and day you want to play in each week, and you commit to a team. Also, if you do not attend, then you get fined.
The process of signing up for intramural sports is somewhat simple. It takes about fifteen to twenty minutes to sign up. You simply search “Florida State Intramural” and from there it takes you to a site called “campusrec.fsu.edu”. As you scroll down through the site there are multiple links that will provide you with more information on each league and other events going on around campus. To officially sign up for a sport, you have to scroll all the way down until you find “IMLeagues Login”. From there it will take you to a page that’s blank except for a banner that is promoting Florida State University’s intramural page. When you click on the banner it will take you to a completely different website. Once on this page, it will ask you to create an intramural league account.
However, if you are a student at Florida State University your login is your Florida State University ID. After logging in, it will take you to the main menu page. On the main page you can view all of the sports offered for your preferred interests. Once you choose a sport it will take you to the list of teams available.
You have the option being a free agent, you also have the option to be a Team Captain or a Team Member. The Team Captain is the one that forms a team. The Team Member is one who is asked to join a team. When you register, you register as either the Team Captain, Team Member, or Free Agent. Some people who created a team made their team private so that only people they knew could join. Also, just because a team is open does not mean that you are automatically added to that team. The creator of the team has to accept and add you on to the roster. Sometimes you are placed on a waiting list to be added if someone from a team drops out.
If you are considered a “free agent”, there are already teams made, and you can join one. I joined as a Free Agent. I was pretty nervous, but I really wanted to play. Unfortunately, when I was on the website looking for a team to join, there weren’t any girls’ teams open. I was forced to join a team of all guys. At first I thought ‘no way! that’s not worth it’. But, I am glad I follow through. Everyone at the field was very friendly and even if you weren’t playing, people were standing around and talking and getting to know one another.
Also, when you go to the Florida State University intramural website, there is a lot of other information that you can explore to potentially get involved in recreation on campus. There are links to the fitness center, the different sports offered and various jobs available. You can explore all of this without logging in. There are ways you can get involved in recreation without joining a team. There are drop-in sports. For example, in October, there is something called Canoe Battleship. This involves having 4 team members in a canoe in pool, trying to sink other teams canoes by throwing buckets of water into their canoe. There are also links to a weekend camping retreat , a 5k, and other sports registration. Drop- in sports are a great way to get involved , and meet new people and have fun without making a long commitment.
The FSU Intramural and Campus Recreation website, has links to various forms of social media to keep students in the loop regarding future events and activities. There are links to twitter, facebook, instagram and youtube. This is a great way to elicit student participation. Students are much more likely to engage in activities if they can see students like themselves participating. Sites like instagram and facebook allow for this. Twitter is helpful to simply get the information in the hands of the student. Most students in a university setting access all four of those social media sites.
Once of the unique components to Intramurals at Florida State University includes their Seven Principles. These Seven Principles are: involvement, participation, fair play, sportsmanship, organization safety and facilities. These Seven Principles and their description can be found on the intramural website from the Sports drop down menu. These act as the program guide for all recreational sports at Florida State University. There are also descriptions of the Sportsmanship Principle and the Rules. I think people are more likely to get involved if there is some structure to the activities. Knowing there are rules and a way to enforce them prevents chaos. This helps people continue to choose to play again.
Interestingly enough, I had two experiences while playing Intramural 3v 3 soccer where rules and sportsmanship issues surfaced. Soccer can be very physical. It is a contact sport. However, soccer players are notoriously sensitive about contact in the sport, and will quickly cry foul to the ref for minor often legal contact. I would often hear grumblings from players on the field that involved yelling at the ref to ‘call something’. I used to play defense in club soccer, and was very physical because I had to be. I noticed that the guys that I played against would react one of two ways to my style of play. Either they would completely avoid any contact with me and just let me dribble through them or they would protest loudly over minor defensive contact. Either way, the refs did ensure fair play.
I had one team member who could be characterized as sexist. I was just as good as male teammates and actually had more years of competitive experience than all of them. We all got along well and played a similar style except for one team member. He was uber competitive but also not that skilled. He didn’t always like to come out of the game when it was my turn to sub in because he believed I was weaker as the lone female on the team. He was very bossy and often discounted by points of view, when we would discuss adjustments to make at half time. He would only do this to me, not the three other guys. He was very unsportsmanlike. I am pretty sure my other three male teammates talked to him at some point, because by the third game, he was more fair in his actions.
Not only is Florida State’s intramural program a way to get involved and stay active, but it also provides people with job opportunities. For example, the referees for our games were college students at Florida State. I talked to one of the referees and he said he makes minimum wage and that it’s a fun and easy way to make money. He only refs one day a week. The only downside he mentioned, however, was that he is there from the first game to the very last game on that day and he does not get a break.
The sports take place all over campus and even off campus. My soccer league was about ten minutes off campus at Florida States recplex. My friend’s volleyball league was on campus at the sand volleyball courts. There was always flag football taking place at the same time at the recplex. When you click on facilities , it takes you to a site that includes pictures of each site where recreation takes place. There are many facilities for intramural, drop in sports and sports clubs. While there are fields at the RecPlex, there is also the leach center, the spa, a large pool, and the reservation. There are pictures of these recreational areas to show students what it actually looks like. The pictures are attractive and enticing. It also includes an address and a link with maps and directions. There is no reason that anyone would not be able to get to any of the sites.
The intramural leagues are completely free. This raises the question of how they are paying the referees and where do they get the money for athletic supplies. Florida State has around 33,000 students paying to go there. When you pay tuition, you are paying to use all of Florida States amenities and activities. Whether you choose to participate in intramural sports or not you are still partially funding the program. There is a link on the campus recreation site , that gives individuals the option to make donations to offset costs. In addition, there are various advertisements on the websites. For example, there is a link where you can buy tshirts. There are also pop- up ads such as USA Today Sports and Digital Properties. This surely generates income for rec sports at Florida State University.
While some students are good enough players of a sport to be recruited to play a varsity sport at Florida State University, others don’t want to make that kind of commitment. Florida State University and most other large universities have Club Sports. Florida State University has 37 Club Sport teams. These teams range from swimming, field hockey and baseball to fencing, wakeboarding and Aikido. Club Sports are essentially a commitment above intramural sports, and a much lower commitment than a varsity sport.
If you play in club sport at Florida State University, you play against other Florida universities. For women's soccer, you would play University of Miami, UCF and University of Tampa. There is a large roster, there are tryouts and there is a 4 hour practice commitment per week. Many of the individuals who play an intramural sport, may decide to move on and play a club sport. Likewise, those that start at the Club sport level, may drop down to the intramural level due to the commitment.
Participation in recreation at a large university like Florida State also can contribute to student growth. When conducting research regarding intramurals and recreation, I came across several articles that stressed the importance of student engagement in recreation. Authors cited the increase of chronic health problems now impacting individuals at a younger age. For example, diabetes and hypertension is occuring at greater rates. Universities want to entice students to engage in activities to improve fitness and movement. The belief is that students who are more active , are more well rounded and exhibit personal growth. Activities involving groups are said to be the most successful and popular amongst university students.
Some other benefits of participating in recreation at the college level include the addition of structure to your day. This structure helps the student stay focused and on track in an environment where there are numerous distractions. Participation in activities where you are relied upon improves self confidence and follow through. It is easy to succumb to the whims of your peers and social life in college. By engaging in a structured activity, a student has to commit. This commitment helps a student follow through on other types of commitments such as social and academic commitments.
Another benefit to participation in university level recreation is improved self- confidence. It takes courage to sign up for something when you don’t know anyone. When you aren’t sure if you are going to be successful in the activity or whether your peers are going to accept you, it can be very scary. By committing to the sign up process and just showing up, you are gaining self confidence. Following through on this helps the student in future circumstances when he/she is interested in an activity but a bit shy about signing up. Having a positive experience, makes it more likely they will sign up for something again in the future. Since my own experience was successful, I am now positive that I will not have any reservations in signing up for future activities. Not knowing anyone, will not stop me.
College Departments often have to compete for funding. Recreation Departments at a university is no different. In order to entice students to become active, their recreational activities, have to be fun, accessible, and well attended. Facilities have to be up to date, and what students are used to at home- if not better than home. To accomplish this, the Recreation Department must advocate for funding. We are lucky at Florida State. Our facilities for recreation are super nice, state of the art, large and well taken care of. You can tell that Florida State University invests in the whole student.
In summary, I am glad I took the personal risk and joined an Intramural team at Florida State University. While I was nervous prior to the first game, it was a good experience for me. I found the sign up process welcoming and user friendly. Due to this positive experience, I wouldn’t hesitate to play a recreational sport at Florida State University again. I would also encourage others to play as well.
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