Intramurals: Brooms, baskets and backyard glory

At Boston University, more than 16,000 undergraduate students file in and out of the dormitories, classrooms and offices along Commonwealth Avenue every day.

But on the playing fields around campus, only a few hundred athletes get a chance to compete on the 23 varsity teams the school has to offer.

So what do the thousands of remaining students do when it comes time to get some exercise, have fun or find some distraction from their demanding school work? Last year, 6,225 of those students found an answer in BU’s intramural sports program.

‘We try to give people the opportunity to participate in a safe, structured environment in a sport of their choice to have some fun and compete,’ said Tom Duval, the coordinator of intramural and club sports at BU.

Currently, students can take part in 17 different intramural activities including ten during the fall semester, six during the spring and one during the summer months. Men’s, women’s and co-recreational divisions are available for every sport.

When BU coeds arrive in September, they can choose from a variety of activities ranging from flag football to outdoor soccer to 3-on-3 basketball to floor hockey. These activities, as well as most others, are traditionally divided into an ‘A’ division and a more competitive ‘AA’ league within the different divisions.

Other choices for students include ice hockey, volleyball, a tennis tournament, a table tennis tournament, a swim meet and a pre holiday basketball tournament that takes place in the weeks before Thanksgiving break. To participate, each team must submit a $20 fee, except when signing up for table tennis, which only costs $5, and the swim meet, which is free.

For the spring, students can participate in wiffle ball, indoor soccer, a free throw contest, 5-on-5 basketball or softball. As in the fall, separate divisions are made available depending on the number of teams that sign up.

Also open to BU students and faculty during the spring semester is an ice broomball league. Even if you’ve never heard of broomball before, it’s not hard to understand. Players use sticks and hockey equipment to try to score on the opposing team and, though participants glide around the ice, they wear only sneakers not skates. This unorthodox game has proven to be a campus favorite, intramural sports officials said.

‘Broomball, by far, is the most popular [of intramural sports],’ said Chris Daigle, assistant coordinator of intramural and club sports. ‘It’s just one of those sports where there really isn’t a lot of skill involved. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s comical just to watch the kids out there.’

Lauren O’Donnell, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, was captain of her co-recreational broomball team this past spring and said the game is well worth it.

‘It’s harder than you think running around out there on the ice,’ O’Donnell said. ‘But it is definitely worth it just to get out there and have some fun.’

Those who decide to stick around for summer classes can try their hand at another softball league. But to cover the costs of umpires, equipment and an end-of-the-season cookout, participation can run a team $125.

Depending on the sport, intramural teams can find themselves in a number of different facilities during the year.

Flag football, outdoor soccer and softball teams play during the day or under the lights on the recently resurfaced Nickerson Field. Case Gymnasium is home to the basketball leagues while Sargent Gymnasium houses volleyball, floor hockey and indoor soccer.

While it is also home to the Terrier hockey team, Walter Brown Arena accommodates ice broomball and the intramural ice hockey league and the newly-built Track and Tennis Center on Ashford street provides a home to BU’s intramural wiffle ball teams.

With a new athletic center on the Student Village site on the way, Daigle feels confident that even more intramural sports can be added to the ever-growing program.

‘When we get the new recreation center, then we are going to be able to have sports like racquetball and squash because we are going to have the courts [for those sports],’ Daigle said.

The program has made many improvements in recent years, Duval said. Player sportsmanship and game officiating has improved, he said.

Daigle, who is entering his sixth year at work in the intramural program, also believes program marketing as a whole has improved resulting in more student interest.

‘The participation numbers have gone up,’ he said. ‘We do have more participants now than when I started here.’

But beside everything mentioned here, some students believe it is the more subtle things that the program can do that really make a difference.

‘A lot of people that go to BU are previous captains of sports in high school and many people experience a withdrawal from their sport,’ said Fernando Trindade, an intramural participant and a sophomore in the College of Engineering. ‘Intramural sports provides a nice arena for athletes to keep playing and stay sharp.’