If you are athletic but do not want to go through the pressure of intense competition, intramural sports may be for you. Michael Prociuk, assistant director of Intramural Sports and Special Events, said intramural team sports at NSU include basketball, flag football, soccer, softball and volleyball. The seasons usually last five or six weeks with a tournament at the end.
“Intramural sports [consist of] competing against other students on campus,” Prociuk said. “Our rules are different [from regular athletics], too. Games are going to last no more than an hour, whereas [competitive athletic] games are going to last a couple of hours.”
Lissette Palacio, graduate assistant for intramural sports, said that other differences between athletic games and intramural games include the season schedules.
“In our regular season, you’ll have at least five games,” Palacio said. “You’ll play for a month. As far as athletics goes, you’re [going to play] 20 or more games a semester, and you practice every day but one.” Prociuk said there are also extra-mural events where teams play against other schools’ intramural teams.
Besides sports, intramurals also holds special recreational events. Palacio said these special events may not be physical, but they are still competitive.
Past events included a badminton tournament, a dominoes tournament, an ultimate Frisbee tournament, a flag football tournament and an eight-ball billiard tournament. There is also an annual golf tournament for students, staff and faculty. Prociuk said most of these events are double-elimination tournaments that last one or two days.
“We try to do sports that would relate to somebody who might not be as athletic, and [we] try to reach different diversities and different cultures,” Prociuk said.
Prociuk also said that the recreational activities that are chosen are influenced by the students.
“[If we see] interest in different things, we can add them,” Prociuk said. “It’s really up to the students. If they want something, and we have the means for it, we can probably offer it.”
Prociuk said that because Intramural Sports is under the Division of Student Affairs and not the Athletics Department, its goal is to reach NSU’s incoming students.
“We’ll continue to try to get these students involved through Intramural Sports as well as the other things that go on in Student Affairs,” Prociuk said.
Palacio said Intramural Sports officials also want to involve more undergraduate students.
“Right now, most of our participants are graduate students,” Palacio said. “But we want students who aren’t on athletic teams to participate and get to know people and really experience NSU.”
