By Dena Adi and Eric Poe
Intramurals will begin again this fall, and campus directors said the sports offer students more of the college experience.
“Intramurals provide student involvement with TCC,” said Laura Bradford, NE health and physical education instructional associate. “It gives them a reason not to just go to class and leave as soon as it’s done.”
Bradford said that while NE Campus will have a self-imposed hiatus on organized intramurals for the fall semester, the focus will instead shift to special events and less organized, more casual recreational activities.
“I encourage students to watch out for special events,” Bradford said. “We will still have the 5K Turkey Trot Nov. 18, and students should also take advantage of the racquetball, ping-pong and sand volleyball we provide.”
TR Campus intramural director Nick Giovannitti said the focus throughout the semester will be football and basketball.
TR Campus, with no gym and no playing fields, has limited space for intramural staples such as football and basketball, but Giovannitti said students will play pick-up basketball for an hour on Tuesdays at Haws Athletic Center in Fort Worth.
If size is a factor for the popular football district championship late in the fall, Giovannitti said he will partner his team with another campus if he must.
He is “100 percent positive” TR Campus will be involved.
TR doesn’t have an advantage in size, but it does with its workout facility, he said.
New equipment will be added to the gym that overlooks the Trinity River.
“We make the best of what we have,” he said. “There is a lot more to come, and although we’re small, we’re proud.”
SE Campus provides an intramurals club link on CampusCruiser that gives students up-to-date information on events, dates and times for everything scheduled, said former SE intramurals director Danny Aguirre.
SE Campus will have a new intramural director for the fall in Shahzad Nazir. He said SE will have a fitness obstacle course Sept. 23 and six other events this fall yet to be determined.
For South Campus, intramurals director Mike Daniels said this semester will bring back student favorites such as soccer, volleyball, racquetball but also plans to give flag football a lot of attention.
With intramurals growing each year, the most popular sport, flag football, needs more room, which is why Daniels is pushing for the flag football district championship games to be played at the University of Texas at Arlington. Daniels said the games get extremely competitive, and the extra space could initiate more games played at once to manage time for all the participants.
According to Daniels, intramurals let students who are gifted athletically continue their dreams and not give up on their talents.
“I get excited,” Daniels says of intramurals. “A lot of the students that participate are very talented but didn’t take care of their academics in high school. I have contacts for several coaches that can help get these kids to continue their dreams at universities and several have. TCC and TCC intramurals are their second chance.”
TCC intramurals are free for all TCC enrolled-students as well as faculty and staff.
