When the winter weather comes around sometimes it is hard for people to get a pick-up game together. But they can in the Anderson Sports and Health Center during intramural season.
Many students are meeting up to join with teammates, former players or just friends to have some fun and play soccer on Sundays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays with the goal of becoming intramural soccer champions.
Women’s Soccer Head Coach Mark Stauffer is in charge of intramural season in which teams consist of six players on the field at a time.
“There are three weeks of regular season games and two weeks of the playoffs,” said Stauffer.
All students are permitted to play, but there are some specific rules every team must follow.
“Each team may only have three former, or current varsity players on each team,” Stauffer said.“It would be unfair to have one team full of current soccer players all on one team. Each team must have at least two girls on the field at all times.”
This enables all teams to include both male and female players.
When it comes to the final rounds of games, intramural players agree it gets heated out on the court.
“It gets very intense and competitive.” Stauffer said. “Our two biggest intramural sports here on campus are soccer and basketball.”
First year Nick Rogers and friends put together a team for the spring league.
“I am currently a member of the men’s soccer team, and I thought it would be fun to play an indoor competition.”
Rogers heard from experienced players that intramural sports are great for athletes in the off-season.
“I heard from a few upperclassmen that it was very competitive and a lot of fun.”
Although Rogers is a varsity player, his experience may not give him an edge in intramural play. With only 20 minutes to score in small soccer nets, the game is challenging.
Regular soccer games are at least 90 minutes long, so cutting a game to only 20 minutes is a big difference for players.
“I think that the games should be at least 30 minutes long, but the set up and organization of the intramural league is very well done,” he said.
All players hope for the honor to wear an “Intramural champion” shirt for bragging rights when the league comes to an end. Stauffer and intramural players encourage students to consider creating teams for next season.