Like many things, sports are forced upon us for our own well-being in our younger years. When we get to college, the gap left in their place may feel vacuous. The effort required to get back into sports can seem like too much for the benefits we receive out of it, but if you had a really cool shirt to look forward to, things might be different.
“At the end of the day, everyone is just there to have fun” was the message echoed by both Will Young, a third-year chemical engineering student, and Brady LaForge, a fourth-year economics student. Young played in the league throughout his first two years and is only taking a hiatus now because of the co-op he will be a part of in the spring. LaForge played for a few years before being presented with an opportunity to referee.
“One day an employee came up to us and said that they were looking for refs,” LaForge recounted. “I thought, ‘I enjoy playing so why not fill my evenings when I don’t do much else being around people playing sports.’” After some time, LaForge became a program assistant and was recently featured on the intramural sports Instagram page as the supervisor of the month.
“Coed volleyball was my first time ever playing the sport,” LaForge said. “I had no knowledge and neither did most of my teammates. But we played with someone who knew the game and with his help and our experience in other sports, we somehow became pretty good.” LaForge talked about how his ragtag team made it all the way to the championship only to have an unfortunate loss in the third set. “I had never played volleyball before but now I think it’s my favorite sport,” LaForge said.
“Sometimes people get a little serious,” Young said. “Usually I was like, come on, let’s just have fun and get the most amount of playtime. That’s what I’m here for, to play an organized sport.” Young was grateful for the experience of organized play because it is something fleeting after high school, with college being one of the few real opportunities left.
Young talked about how other athletes wanted more action than just the season of their chosen sport. “I joined what is basically the ‘tennis club team’ for softball. It’s just a bunch of people who get other tennis players to join their groups.” He felt that the softball season was unfortunately short.
“As a supervisor,” LaForge said, “I just check up on people during the games and make sure things are going smoothly. We are all first-aid trained, so I help with any injuries that occur. The best part is there are usually enough people to cover, so getting in on games during your shift is not only allowed but encouraged.” It is not a bad deal, considering it is a paid position at the New Balance Recreation Center.
“I think the hype has definitely gone up recently,” said LaForge. “This year men’s and coed soccer both have 16+ teams; those are crazy numbers that I haven’t seen before.” Despite the hype, LaForge said that there is always room for more. “There’s plenty of brackets going around for everyone and every bracket has a shirt, so try a sport you’ve never played before.”
The shirt is certainly the focus of the entire ordeal. Not only is the intramural sports website emblazoned with “Become a Champion / Do it for the shirt!” but LaForge remembers numerous seniors in their final semesters approaching him to say they didn’t have a team yet, but wanted to do whatever they could for that illustrious prize. Similarly, Young ended the interview saying, “Senior year, I’m getting a T-shirt for every season.”
