....ntsplaypart In intramural competition, men and women of varied ability levels participated in a variety of sports including basketball, football, soft– ball, volleyball, racquetball and ten– nis. "Our goa ls for this yea r were similar to the goals of every yea r / " Jim Gowen, director of men's intramurals, said. "We encourage participation from as many stu– dents as possible in both intramurals and club sports, we try to avoid injuries and improve the program in some way every year." Gowen and the intramural assistants were dedicated to pro– vid in g students wit h fun recre– ation through sport competition . Matt Seats and Sean Hudkins served as graduate assistants. In– tramural assistants were seniors Freshman Matt Eastridge delivers a serve to the opposing team. Friendly com– petition often developed among mem– bers of rival teams. (Photo by Lindsey Taliaferro) Senior Crystal Smith and freshman Amy Avery laugh as the watch intraMural volleyball teams compete in the Ganus Athletic Center. Although participants en– joyed the intramural games, spectators also appreciated the time spent visiting with friends. (Photo by LindseyTaliaferro) • • 34 student life i Jimmy Allen, Josh Reinstein, Jus– tin Smith and Kenny Simpson, junior Marsha ll Conner and sophomore Cade Smith. Jessica Moore, associate professor kine– siology, served as the women's intramural director. "We invite any student to par– ticipate," Gowen said . "We set the requirements low so that more wi ll h ave the opportunity. Fresh– men have just as much of a chance to playas upperclassmen." Through intramurals, stud ents involved with clubs and not in– volved with clubs were given the opportunity to participate. "lntramurals gave me the chance to play sports even though I was not a member of a social club or a school team," senior Elizabeth Hendrix said. Students were not required to be full time to participate in intramurals. In order to play, un– dergraduate students were re– quired to take six hours while graduate students took a mini– mum of three hours. Freshman Andrew Coubrough said h e enjoyed the opportunity to play intramural fo otball and basketball. "You can go out and have com– petition against other people and have fun doing it," Coubrough said. Basketball, volleyball, racquetball, badminton, swimming and table ten– nis were offered in the Ganus Ath– letic Center. "We were able to upgrade the quality of the volleyball equipment in the Ganus this year," Gowen said. Intramural teams also took ad– vantage of outdoor facilities, includ– ing four fields each for softball and flag football and soccer. The tennis courts were also utilized for indi– vidual matches. "We spent a lot of time improving the grass on the football fields and the infields of the softball facilities," Gowen said. Along with team competition, in· dividuals competed in events such as the football pass and softball throw. Students a ttempting to earn letter jackets or blankets were required to compete in a certain number of both team and individual competitions. This introduced students to sports they might not otherwise play. "Students have the opportunity to play sports that they really enjoy and some that they do not like as much to earn a jacket or other awards," Gowen said. - Sara Raboll
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