With the West Texas A&M University football team busy with their season, there are still other athletes on campus to cheer on: the students who play intramurals.
Intramurals are a way that all students can participate in a sport on campus, even if they are not a student-athlete. Assistant Director of Recreational Sports, John Morton, hopes that students join intramurals for the opportunities it offers students.
“I think the most compelling reason to join intramurals is the fun,” Morton said. “It’s a chance to spend time with your friends, and to make new friends and to come out here and do something together in pursuit of a shared goal.”
Students have a considerable amount of choices when it comes to sports options with Intramurals, which continues to add new sports.
“We have four seasons; we have flag football, volleyball, basketball and softball,” Morton said. “In the last year we’ve added to our outdoor seasons; we have sand volleyball in the fall and soccer in the spring. We’ve also added pickleball, tennis, bowling, and billiards.”
A big reason why many students join Intramurals is to participate in sports with their friends. Elijah Garibay, a senior marketing major, joined Intramurals to be able to play a sport with his group of friends.
“I joined Intramurals because my friends wanted me to do it,” Garibay said. “We all had a friend group, and they all wanted to play, so we came in together, and we played.”
A key component of intramurals are the referees. One referee, Landry Teran, a senior sports and exercise science major, said that for him, calling a game is just about having fun and meeting new people.
“It’s pretty fun, you get to meet a lot of new people, see a lot of new faces and call a lot of games,” Teran said. “It’s not about the money, it’s about having fun, and once high school’s over this is a way to make up for it for the next four years.”
To join Intramurals, students can sign themselves up and their team using IMLeagues.
“All of our signups are done through IMLeagues,” Morton said. “If you go to IMLeagues and you sign up using your school email address, you’ll be able to get access to our portal and see and see everything we’re still offering.”
Intramurals has a variety of sports that students can participate in over both the fall and spring semesters.
