By Sydney Clanton If you forgot to sign up for intramurals, Western is offering three tournaments during winter quarter including a badminton, indoor bubble soccer and a newly-added racquetball tournament.Sign-up times for each tournament will be held later in the quarter and vary depending on the sport. Sign-up times can be found on Western’s website in the campus recreation services section: https://wp.wwu.edu/campusrec/intramurals/.Western’s intramural coordinator Jennifer Holman encourages students to participate in intramural sports. She said it provides a good social and physical activity for people to bond over as well as a sense of teamwork. “Even though it’s more recreational, it’s a good way to tone your skills within certain sports and activities,” Holman said. “It’s also here for people to discover new avenues or activities that they want to do, which by the way, we are open to. If somebody comes to me with something we haven’t offered before, we can do that.” To sign up for a tournament, students needed to sign up on IMleagues.com with their student email and follow the instructions online. Participants must have valid student identification and can play on more than one team and in multiple divisions. Last quarter, around 1,000 people signed up for intramural teams and tournaments, Holman said.
The 2016-17 edition of "The Shirt," traditionally given to intramural competitors who win an intramural championship.
Sophomore Alison Eddy has been participating in the intramural basketball program for the last three quarters with the same basketball team. Having basketball games once a week quickly became the highlight of Eddy’s week, she looks forward to seeing her teammates and getting physical exercise in to help with the stress of school. “It offers a good way to relieve stress, that’s what I really take away from it,” Eddy said.Eddy plays on a coed basketball team made up of nine Western students. She described her team as both laid back and competitive. Students can choose to play in either competitive or recreational leagues, depending on the level of competition they want. “I think it is pretty competitive playing coed, playing with guys there is always a certain level of competitiveness,” Eddy said. “But I feel like the girls do take it a little more seriously, they are a little more intense.” Eddy is hopeful to win this quarter’s coed 5-on-5 basketball league. Winners acquire the championship T-shirt called “The Shirt” that all intramural sports champions receive and get to proudly wear around campus.Sophomore Samantha Payne values the friendships she has made through intramural sports the most. She said intramural leagues are an easy way to meet new people and create unique friendships.“The friendships I have made in intramurals are hard to put into words,” Payne said. “They are not normal friendships a lot of the time because it’s not people I would have met if I wasn’t playing an intramural sport, whether that be volleyball, basketball or bubble soccer.”Along with friendships and memories, students will be able to get guaranteed physical activity, Payne said. “It gives me a reason to get up and go to the gym,” Payne said.
