Members of greek organizations compete in an intramural tug
of war competition during Greek Week.
C THAMBUNDIT / THE DEPAUW
From retired athletes to normal students, everyone enrolled at DePauw has an opportunity to fuel their competitive fire thanks to the university’s intramural sports program.
“I love it,” Delta Upsilon intramural chair Tommy Schmelzer said. “Sports, in general, were my life growing up, so having an opportunity to continue playing even through my career is over is awesome. It is a great way to relieve stress and stay active which can be difficult while balancing school work and a social life.”
For the students who are not members of Varsity sport teams the DePauw athletic department does offer intramural sports throughout the fall, winter and spring seasons. This fall, football will be offered and registration is open to all students, faculty and staff online at www.imleagues.com/depauw.
Gina Preston, director of club and intramural sports, has been working alongside the newly appointed head lacrosse coach, Julia Sargent to get the Fall season up and running.
“Gina was extremely helpful in helping get the DU team together for flag football,” Schmelzer said. “It was passed the deadline but she was still able to help us out which was really helpful in my first couple weeks in this position.”
For greek organizations, once intramural chairs get their players on the field, they instantly become hooked.
“I will be completely honest it can be tough sometimes [getting people to participate],” Schmelzer said. “It does take some effort to get people to participate sometimes especially new members. Usually once they participate the first time they realize they actually do have time for it and that it’s a hella-fun.”
The first sport to get underway was football. Teams participated in their first games last week. Soccer, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, and softball will follow as the year moves on.
This year Preston’s goal is to see more people come out and participant with different groups of DePauw students and faculty.
“It’s people playing sports,” Preston said in an interview last month. “We’re trying to get all students involved and participating. IMs are open to all students.”
However, students that have participated in the intramural program have enjoyed it.
“It was a nice way for me to enjoy athletics,” sophomore Josh Clark said.
Junior Kyle Whistler agreed.
“It was exciting coming from a high school athlete,” he said.
Senior Korrine Spears noted that in the past intramural sports have been mostly greek oriented.
“I think there’s more to campus than main greek houses,” Spears said.
However, the main goal of the sports is to bring together friends in a fun and laid-back environment.
“It really brings us together as a brotherhood being able to play as a team towards a common goal so it’s pretty cool being able to make that happen,” Schmelzer said. “I think sports are a great way to get to know someone. When we are all working together and playing well its truly something special.”
Nicole DeCriscio and Abby Margulis contributed on this article.