Intramural sports allow athletes who are interested in a sport and athletes whose sport is not offered here at Eastern the opportunity to become an athlete for forty minutes, one to three times a week. Brittany Stroop, the Intramural coordinator, Head Softball coach and adjunct professor here at Eastern University, took over the intramural program during the fall of 2013 and has kept the leagues going strong. Currently the website that Stroop uses for registration has the member count at 504 students.
The fall semester has seen three successful leagues take place; co-ed volleyball, co-ed soccer and co-ed flag football. Stroop mentioned the success of flag football was extremely important in allowing more students to be involved in the fall leagues. According to the aforementioned website, 283 students are participating in the three different sports currently offered.
For the Spring 2015 semester, Stroop is planning to split the semester to offer more for the Eastern community, although these plans are not set in stone. Before spring break, there will be three leagues: a repeat of co-ed soccer and co-ed volleyball and an addition of a co-ed floor hockey league to replace flag football. After spring break, there will be an abundance of basketball including men’s, co-ed and women’s leagues.
With programs such as an intramural league, a lot of participation comes from knowing what the students want. Eastern’s student body, if not just the intramural participants, should expect a survey to come through student development sometime during the Spring 2015 semester. The survey will ask the community what sports they wish to see in the future as the intramural program moves forward. Stroop is anticipating the growth of the program in conjunction with the campus master plan over the next few years.
If you are interested in joining Intramurals, or just following the standings of all the leagues, you can do so on imleagues.com or by using the Rec It app for both iPhones and Androids. You can also follow the program on Twitter using the handle @Intramurals_EU.