Rec. Sports Staff hopes changes create new intramural culture

September 03, 2008
By Robert Jackson
Sports Editor

With a new school year has come an overhaul to the intramural program at UIS.

The changes, made by the Director of Recreational Sports, J.T. Timmons, and the Assistant Director, Karen Willard, focus intramurals on networking, socializing, and participation while still including one of the past emphases: competition. Students’ at UIS reactions, however, varied.

“I think there’s an opportunity to build on the foundation Karen put into place,” Timmons said. He also sees intramurals capable of teaching students lessons and skills they can use for the rest of their lives, which is why rules will govern play as well as conduct now.

A team’s sportsmanship rating, assessed by intramural supervisors, will now decide who qualifies for postseason play in intramurals. The sportsmanship rating ranges from 0 to 4.0 much like a GPA. At St. Ambrose, where Timmons instituted a similar system, teams needed a 3.0 rating to qualify for postseason play.

One student laughed at the idea and then joked he should remember to shake the other team’s hands after each game.

While sportsmanship rating will determine the playoff field, the win-loss record shapes the playoff bracket, seeding each team based on their record. Winning teams will advance in the playoff tournaments unless they receive a sportsmanship rating of 0.

Willard and Timmons also revised rosters for co-rec leagues, requiring a minimum number of opposite sex players on the field at one time.

Last year’s co-rec indoor volleyball champions, The Hyderabad Warriors, have already conformed to the new changes, featuring a roster of six males and two females. Last year their roster was all males.

Gopi Gangadaran, a member of that team last year, was more worried about another change to intramurals: leagues based on skill. Gangadaran likened it to walking into something “blindfolded,” and wished the number of teams in each league would be public rather than having to wait to find out.

Teams with intercollegiate volleyball players will be placed in elite leagues after they were initially barred altogether. Rules were revised last Wednesday after an email went out during the first week of school.

“My only question is how many teams will actually be in the elite league?” Senior libero Ali Janezic asked as a previous intramural participant with the Sandy Vs. “I think it’s a good idea though, and I’m glad [J.T. and Karen] aren’t cutting us out altogether.”

Neither Timmons nor Willard would speculate how many teams would sign up for a league in its first year, but both remain confident this new program will work.

“We got a vision and we know where want to be—it just takes a few steps to get there,” Willard said. Timmons said this program has brought him recognition at different national conferences and seen its success at St. Ambrose. In his final year at St. Ambrose, Timmons said he had 73 basketball teams signed up for intramurals.

“Ultimately I believe in this system and I know that it works,” Timmons said. “I wouldn’t implement something that I know would fail.”

Planned Intramurals for the Fall Semester

Bocce	Racquetball singles	Badminton Singles	Squash singles
Exhibition Basketball	Pocket billiards	7x7 Footballl	Basketball shooting contest
6x6 Soccer	Softball Hitting Contest	3x3 Outdoor basketball	Ping-Pong singles
6x6 Indoor	Pickleball singles	7x7 Ultimate Frisbee	Kickball tournament

This year the intramural program will feature a new way to sign up. Instead of the old sheet, rec. members will now fill out a roster card, which will be a blue card. Eligibility rules, however, have remained the same. New to this year’s program is the ability to add players all the way up until the playoffs. A team captain can browse the rec sports website, and if he or she spots a free agent that would help their team, the captain can retrieve a player addition card and then have the free agent fill out the card, and then return it to the recreation sports office in TRAC. Anyone can fill out a free agent form online. All forms this year need to be turned in to the recreation sports office rather than the TRAC front desk in the Hoogland Atrium.

Also new to this year’s intramurals is free scheduling. Director, J.T. Timmons, and Assistant Director, Karen Willard, endorse free scheduling as a way to increase student involvement in intramurals. In select events participants will work out with one another a game time. Both participants will then have to fill out paperwork to verify the event’s results. This new type of scheduling has allowed intramurals to include more tabletop games.

If rec. members have any questions about intramurals they can look online at www.uis.edu/recsports or call the office at 217-206- 7103. Rec. members can also email the office at recsports@uis.edu. The office is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.