The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
Playing as a collegiate athlete has its benefits and can be fun for the student-athletes to make life time memories. But playing in recreational sports such as the sports hosted by UWSP called intramurals can give the same feeling. Arguably just as fun, way less work and stress, intramurals provide that for lots of students here on campus. During an interview with an intramural supervisor Kelsey Pavlik, she explained her job and the reasons as to why students should get involved into intramural sports.
“As a supervisor I get to come to their sports a little bit early. I show up a little early so that we can set up and then I’m kind of a resource for all the athletes. Checking if there’s ever an injury, I’m there for the first aid aspect of that and I’m kind of like a facilitator when it comes to those sports,” Pavlik said.
A big part of having all these sports going is because of the people behind the scenes making sure that everything runs smoothly. There’s a lot of people involved with it, being one of the biggest employers on campus creating many opportunities.
In co-ed intramural basketball game, Joe Herrmann, talked about his first-year experience with intramural basketball. “I played varsity basketball, so I enjoy being active and still playing a little bit. Having a couple refs help with the game and people to maintain scores is fun. They make it better for everyone.”
Pavlik went on to explain why having and being involved with intramural sports can be beneficial for students.
“There’s a lot of different reasons, I think. For one it’s the ability to stay active after high school, you know a lot of us were varsity athletes and just looking for something extra to do and unlike in varsity sports or club sports where you are busier this allows us that ability to stay active,” Pavlik stated.
“Another part is just that social aspect you know you get together with a group of friends maybe once a week if you’re just playing one sport or maybe a couple times a week if you play multiple sports and you get to hang out with your friends, you get to hang out with some other people that you’re playing again. Have a little bit of fun with that as well. It’s just that good break in the week you know you’re not getting that time away from studying and going to classes it’s just a good way to blow off some steam.”
Intramurals is a great way to be able to get away from classes and all the stress that school brings. Whether you want to be competitive or not there’s something for everyone who wants to get active and enjoy whatever they are doing. We talked about busy it can be for the intramural office with how many different sports they run.
“Per block we usually have about 10 to 15 different sports. These sports change each block, so we have upwards of about 20 different sports that we offer. Within those sports, we also have different divisions. Most sports had division one and division two. For basketball, we run a separate co-ed league. For our men’s division one and two leagues, division one is typically our more competitive where division two is a more relaxed just here to have fun league.”
For most people who had played in high school on varsity being in division one is a good option for you. Typically having the more competitive play and being more active. A lot of time there is only one division that will be allowed due to not having the amount of people. She added how important having a job like this can help a person out for their future.
“I have a health science pre-physical therapy major so intermural does relate pretty closely to my job or my future profession. I think just the organizational skills and interpersonal skills that I’ve learned working as a supervisor here has really helped me and what I’m going to have to do later. I’m going to have to work with patients daily so getting that one on one time with other people is helpful and then obviously like the first aid side of things.”
Not only does being involved in intramural sports keep you active but can help you build your resume and show that you have had help with organizational skills. She then spoke on how there is a lot of respect between teams and how fierce the competition is to win a block championship.
“I have not and maybe that’s the good part about it. There’s a lot of good competition so you’re not coming out here and completely dominating over the other teams. And I think just the overall general respect that all the other players have for each other is memorable so that’s probably something I’m going to miss after I graduate for sure.” Being involved in intramural sports has lots of benefits that can help people enjoy the full college experience and creates
