Eastern Athletics Intramurals: Eastern’s Student-Athletes and Coaches Compete in Intramural sports.

Eastern University’s athletics programs have been experiencing an unprecedented year due to Covid-19. With the spring of 2020 seasons ending abruptly to fall seasons being delayed until spring, athletes at Eastern have had their seasons altered in one way or another. In an attempt to keep athletes involved in competitions of some form, Eastern’s Student-Athletes Activities Committee (SAAC) in partnership with the athletic department has started athletics intramural days.

Every other Saturday during the month of September and into October, SAAC and the Athletics
Department have put together Intramurals for athletes to participate in. Teams have been battling it out in games such as kickball, giant jenga, dodgeball, cornhole, and trash can pong in an effort to foster
friendly competition on campus. Eastern’s coaches and Athletics staff were spotted playing cornhole to
show support for their athletes and join in on the fun!

Music and laughter filled the tennis court and turf areas as athletes competed in games different from
their own sport and cheered each other on. As games became close and neared the end of their time, teams buckled down on their strategies and looked for the best way to try and secure a win for their team.

Although on the outside, these Intramural games look like fun, they are also instrumental to improving the community of athletes. Team bonding is essential to developing a strong team that works well together and has a built up foundation of trust. These intramurals provide an outlet for teams to work
together in a new way that fosters teamwork while staying on campus and working together to compete.

The most recent event held on 10/10/2020 featured Chick-fil-a, kickball, cornhole and dodgeball. As many groups did not have enough members to field a full kickball team, athletes from multiple teams
joined forces against some larger teams on campus.

In the first game against baseball, women’s lacrosse, field hockey, soccer and some track members banded together to play and in the second game men’s golf was joined by softball, track and field and field hockey players to fill out a team playing against men’s volleyball.

While Eastern’s teams are competitive with one another, they are also each other’s biggest fans. Friend groups spread across numerous teams foster the friendly competition at athlete intramurals and in some cases create the most jeering and trash talk between the teams in an attempt to get a laugh out of others. At the end of the games, teams can be seen coming together in prayer to give thanks for the
opportunity to play and for the health and safety of the athletics program.

Upcoming SAAC events include wear pink day on October 14th. SAAC has asked that all athletes wear pink on October 14th in honor of breast cancer awareness month. The next Intramural day will be held on October 24th and will be Halloween themed. Look for more details on the SAAC instagram page @
eu.saac and ask your team representative for other important information.

Sources: EU SAAC