Whether it’s basketball or badminton, soccer or softball, football or volleyball, OSU intramurals has it covered.
Ohio State’s Intramural Sport Program has been a part of students’ lives for the past 90 years. It offers more than 40 activities throughout the year and has 30,000 participants. The program meets the needs of students, faculty and staff, their respective spouses and department affiliates that are just looking to have a little fun.
There are more competitive levels such as the Premium and Gold, middle levels that include Classic and Triple-A, and lower levels such as the Continental and Rookie.
Depending on the number of participants, fees to play range from as little as $5 to compete in the 3-on-3 basketball tournament, to as much as $85 to play flag football.
The five most popular spring intramural sports are softball, soccer, volleyball, dodgeball and ice hockey. Participation as a whole remains steady each quarter. The victors of all intramural competitions are awarded championship T-shirts and have their pictures placed on the intramural Web site at the end of the quarter.
Ben Jordan-Downs and Molly Baumann, intramural graduate administrative assistants, and Cory Taylor, an intramural coordinator, help keep the program running smoothly. They believe intramural sports encourage teamwork, a healthy lifestyle and emotional and mental releases from the day-to-day grind of college life.
All three have different college backgrounds. Baumann came to OSU from Dennison University, which has a 2,200-student enrollment, and students didn’t have to pay to play intramurals.
Taylor, who is from Ohio University, which has 19,600 students, concurred with Baumann that smaller schools don’t have nearly the same commitment to intramurals as OSU. They both point out there simply aren’t enough students to form teams or enough sports to keep those who want to participate happy.
Jordan-Downs got his experience out of state at both Syracuse University, which has 18,600 students, and Virginia Tech, with 25,600 students. He also said that OSU’s program ranks ahead of those schools.
“At Syracuse, there were always forfeits,” Jordan-Downs said. “And Virginia Tech was like a smaller version of OSU.”
OSU intramurals are well funded because they draw their revenue from three different sources – Limited General Funds, registration fees and sponsorships. Coke, UPS and Jimmy Johns are three of the program’s main sponsors. Taylor said those three can be counted on consistently and it’s unlikely that OSU would lose their sponsorship unless the economy was in turmoil.
Everyone on the program’s staff brings different experiences and aspects to the program, Jordan-Downs said. He believes that the OSU intramural program serves as a guide for schools across the nation, and they all try to keep up.
Taylor, Baumann and Jordan-Downs are quick to praise the program’s assistant director, Ken Hill, for the diverse staff that he has developed. Hill’s staff includes more than 300 students, and they believe it’s “easily the most diverse staff in OSU Recreational Sports.”
However, a couple of problems exist with the program. The excitement about intramurals reaches its peak at the beginning of each quarter. Midway through the quarter, when studies begin to mount and other interests pull on students, participation sags. Forfeits and team disbandment sometimes result.
Approximately 50-60 teams are turned down each quarter because there isn’t enough space to suit everyone’s needs. The Recreational and Physical Activities Center, which will replace Larkins Hall, will take steps to address this problem.
“The RPAC will help, but the boost won’t be tremendous,” Baumann said.
The program will be forced to share the RPAC space with sport clubs and students who use the facility on a recreational basis. The program’s staff realizes this and understands that the students who just want to work out after class should be provided with that opportunity. The staff will continue to utilize the limited space that’s available to the best of its ability.
Despite a couple of areas of difficulty, the future for OSU Intramurals looks promising and busy.
“OSU is always in the top three size wise,” Jordan-Downs said in reference to other school’s programs.
Taylor, Baumann and Jordan-Downs agreed that diversity and fitness are keys to bring OSU intramural participants together and keeping the program at a top level in the future.
