By Andrew Mahinay
Being active is an integral part of PUC. Most notably is the intramurals program, coordinated by Dr. Robert Paulson, which has over 800 games per school year.
The sports range from co-ed to date night in sports such as volleyball, basketball, frisbee, and many others. I myself have had the opportunity to participate in intramurals for three sports, making new friends and long lasting memories. Intramurals is a place you can push yourself to the physical limits, or if you are like most people, intramurals can be a place to get exercise while having fun.
PUC’s exercise science majors referee each intramural game, which means you are bound to see a familiar face. Hernan Granados, the head dean of Newton Hall, continuously helps ref games, ensuring fairness is exhibited on the playing grounds.
The entire gym is reserved for intramural games like basketball or volleyball, which means gameplay will not be interrupted or cut short. Each intramural game lasts an average of one hour and is a great way to take a break from studying.
In order to make a team, one must sign up on RecRadio’s page on Facebook. Sign up by finding other students and friends to compose a team. Once you recruit the required amount of players, create a team name on RecRadio, and you are now ready to participate in intramurals. A schedule of the teams you will be playing will be posted on RecRadio Facebook page so keep an eye out for that.
To differentiate teams, PUC’s intramural program provides free jerseys. If you want to get involved in an intramural team, there is a required fee of $5, which goes to pay the referees. If you know you will be even more active in intramurals, RecRadio offers a special deal where you can pay $30 to buy your own special jerseys, which showcases you are eligible to play in all sports without having to pay the $5 initiation fee. In other words, you will not have to pay to play in an intramural game again.
Intramurals tends to start in the evening, around 6-8 p.m., depending on the sport. Each night, Dr. Paulson makes it his goal to snap silly and amazing photos of live intramural game play. These photos can be found on the RecRadio’s Facebook page and to some people, like myself, these photos are the true highlights of participating.
The teams with the highest win-to-lose ratio move on to what is known as playoffs. During playoffs, teams compete with each other to get to the number one spot. Because of this aspect, Intramurals can get competitive. The team that wins first place lands a group picture on the RecRadio Facebook page, along with a game-winning shirt, which represents they defied all odds in beating all teams. With the competitive aspect aside, intramurals is all about having fun.
Intramurals is designed for all students whether you’re agile and quick or determined and committed, or just out there to have fun. There are no requirements. I highly recommend you join intramurals when you’re at PUC to create long lasting memories alongside your friends.
This years’ women’s soccer champions.