.. Playing Around \ Intramural spor ts had be~ a part of Hard– ing s in ce 1939- During int ramurals, students had the opportunity to compete against fel– low students in a variety of sports ranging from softball to racquetball. Students even had the chance to compete in club int ramurals. The intramurals theme. according to Jim Gowen , di– rector of men's intramural athletics, was "a sport for every man and every man in a sport." Be sides just competing against fellow classmates and peers, students also had the opportunity to play against faculty and staff. For those who wondered what their profes– sors were like outside of the class r oom envi– ronment, taking them on in an intramural game was a gr eat way to find out. Senior Bo Ba il ey sai d that as a freshman he saw intramurals as a good way t o meet new p eop l e. In recent years, his club has even met new p otentia l membe r s through in t r a– murals. Bailey also took advantage of the op– portunity to play against the faculty and staff in softball every year. 32 student life " It is fun to see the faculty and sta ff out– si de of th e ir classroom and work sett ing," Bail ey said. Bailey also participated in the volleyball and ba sketball games, but football and so ft– ball were hi s main intramural sports. Having p layed sports in high ¥hool, Bailey sai d he liked intramurals because he st ill got to en– joy sports while not making it his life . One thing Bail ey learned though wh en taking on his supe riors S!n the softball field, was n ot to take them too lightly. "My freshman year I took the faculty and staff softball team for granted," Ba i ley sa id. Bailey said he l ea rned not to j u dge too quickly. Some p eop l e may have thought that the stud e nt s were a shoe-in to win because of youth alone, but that was not a lways the case. Dr. J im Miller from th e College of Com– munication also partici pated in the intra– mura l softball games, on the faculty side. As a big baseball fan, Miller said he really enjoyed compe tin g against the students. " It is espeC ially fulfilling when we beat them handily," Miller said. Students had other faculty members to watch out for in intramurals, Me;iSansom was vice president of finance by day, but could be– come a fOI'ce to be l'eckoned with on the vol– leyball court by night. Sansom had played o n the team for seven years and sa id he e njoyed the interaction with students and the exercise he got from the friendly competition. "We get a good spike and it is fun to see the students reaction when they realize the faculty an d staff ca n p lay," Sansom said. In tramurals were an opportunity for th ose interested to compete against one an – other in a varie ty of different spo rts . Not limited to stude n ts, faculty and staff also participated a nd showed students that what they saw in the classroom was nOt all there was to them . Roberto McGowan
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