Two weeks into the new semester, several students began to wonder what was up with intramurals this year. Last year’s student director, Ryan “Moe” Matteucci, graduated and the Web site had not been updated in months.
Fortunately, for everyone who loves to spend their weekday evenings either participating in or just observing intramurals, faculty advisor Mark Birtwistle and Matteucci teamed up again to organize the competitions, despite low staff numbers.
While Matteucci now lives in New Jersey, he is still overseeing the Web site and designing the new championship t-shirts, while Birtwistle holds more of the on-site responsibilities. “We’re always looking for new people,” Birtwistle said of the intramural staff.
There are three sports currently in session, with action taking place in the main gym weeknights from 10 p.m. to midnight. Co-ed 5 v. 5 soccer occurs on Mondays and Wednesdays, with co-ed 6 v. 6 volleyball on Tuesdays and men’s 3 v. 3 basketball on Thursdays.
With the first games of the new season beginning last week on Sept. 22, the level of competition was as high as ever.
First-year Jake Galewski’s team, Edem United: The Trilogy, lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Eastern United in the Wednesday night soccer league.
“It was more intense than I expected,” Galewski said.
Senior Tim Reynolds, who is now in his fifth year of intramural competition, said that the teams in the basketball league are a lot better this year, but he’s confident his team, Team Dime, will do well.
“We’re returning our team of veterans from last year,” Reynolds said, who won the championship t-shirt last year. “We have 21 years of experience.”
The beauty of intramurals is that anyone can play, experienced or not, and have a good time.
“We love having fun and being athletic, even though we stink at volleyball,” first-year Lauren DeMicco of Gym Class Zeroes said. The night before their first match, the all first-year squad was outside practicing until midnight.
Another team, Sparkle Motion, has competed a lot together, just not on the volleyball court. The team is comprised of Ultimate Frisbee players, but junior Jason McDermott still believes they can achieve, “one hundred percent victory, all the time.”
While their Frisbee skills may come in handy for jumping and running balls down, there are also a few setbacks.
“We might get confused and try to catch the volleyball,” sophomore Redmond Brubaker said.