If you’ve ever felt like your athletic abilities were going to waste sitting on your couch watching Netflix reruns, intramural sports may be just the place to relive your glory days of high school sports.
This quarter, DU intramural sports has started hosting open play nights for sports to encourage more engagement from students.
Traditionally, intramural sports is a fun and low-intensity version of several team sports which rotate through the different quarters, including soccer, volleyball, flag football, basketball, tennis and, of course, broomball.
For intramural sports, teams traditionally pay a low fee, about $35 for the whole team, and then participate in weekly games.
Less intense than club sports teams who travel for competition, intramural is a way to take advantage of DU’s first-class sporting arenas and to meet new people.
Student Programs, which organizes intramural sports, club sports and alpine club, kicked off the new open play nights last Tuesday in the Joy Burns Arena with the popular intramural sport of broomball.
Broomball consists of players wearing tennis shoes to slip and slide on ice while attempting to score using a broom to hit a ball into a net.
Student Programs sent out emails to students last week promising open play night to be fun, easy and beneficial for students seeking a team to join for the intramural season, which begins Oct. 8.
Kelli Mowrey is a fourth-year dual degree student from Englewood. She is majoring in international studies and Spanish.
Mowrey has been playing broomball since her first quarter at DU and came out for open play night.
“This past spring, my original team disbanded when some of our members graduated, making us unable to field a whole team,” said Mowrey.
“I figured that open play night would be a fantastic opportunity to meet new people, possibly find a new team to play on and, in the worst case scenario, just play and relieve some stress for a few hours.”
The open play nights run for two hours, giving everyone a chance to play much longer than the typical intramural match, generally between 30-40 minutes.
For broomball night, the Joy Burns Arena was divided into three separate, simultaneous games to ensure maximum playing time.
Trevor Bazley, a senior Biology major from Castle Rock, has also played every year since his first quarter at DU and recognized the benefits of open play night, especially for new players.
“I’ve had experience playing broomball before, but I could definitely see how it might be an intimidating sport if you’re new to college, so I think it’s a great way to get out there and decide if you like it,” said Bazley.
According to participants, the event was a great success for both beginners and more experienced players.
“Just looking around from game to game, people looked like they were having a blast and really enjoyed just playing for fun rather than intense competition,” said Mowrey.
Tyler Prentiss is a fourth-year Psychology major from Pueblo.
This is his third year playing broomball and he said he enjoyed open play night as a fun way to start playing broomball again after a summer hiatus.
“I would absolutely go again if a similar night was held at the beginning of another quarter. Apart from all the bruises and the general body soreness, it was a great concept and I wish it had been offered in years past,” said Prentiss.
Mowrey noted that though players treated games as though they were real, people seemed to act much nicer toward each other and interacted more because there was less competition.
“If there were an open play night every month, or even every week, I would go,” said Mowrey.
Intramural sports registration is open to all students, faculty and staff of all skill levels and closes on Oct. 3 while the season runs from Oct. 8 through Nov. 15, usually finishing up just in time for students to focus on finals before the quarter ends.
You can visit imleagues.com to register.
