What’s intramural?
I had to ask myself that same question about twenty times throughout freshman year. And it wasn’t even until my sophomore year that I was daring enough to actually figure it out.
When I heard the word, all I could think about was one thing: sports. I wasn’t jumping out of my seat to sign up either (sorry, not sorry).
Sure, I liked playing around with the kids in my neighborhood when I was young, but I am not athletic. I can’t run a mile in seven minutes, much less run a mile at all. I trip over my own feet when I’m walking to class; there was no way joining a sports team was going to be a positive experience for me.
Yet, there I was, the newest member of an intramural volleyball team unfortunately named Harambe Hottiez. Why?
For starters, it was an easy way to get priority points. For anyone reading who isn’t a Marist student, this is the reward system the college uses to get students involved in activities on campus. The more clubs you’re involved in, the better your chances of not getting stuck in crappy housing. For those of you who are Marist students, you know my pain.
Anyway, being part of an intramural team gets you two points, so already there was some incentive for me to participate. Better than that, all my friends were willing to play. Living in a house with eight other girls could be scary, but being on this team together was a great way to develop real friendships with them all. It improved our communication skills and teamwork.
It also helped that no one was really good at volleyball. We were all on the same level, missing the ball 90% of the time and hitting it into the net, but it didn’t bother us. It was a real chance for us to encourage each other, telling everyone they were doing a good job when maybe they weren’t. Although we basically lost every game we played except for one. We won by default because the other team never showed.
Toward the end of the semester, we were doing more than just playing volleyball games on the weekend. I was learning new things about myself: that I liked being a team player and I could actually hit a ball. Being part of an intramural changed the way I viewed sports. It was fun, it was encouraging, and it was confidence building, especially walking up and announcing you were the Harambe Hottiez.
When someone tells you to try out new things, just try it. And you definitely don’t have to be athletic to get involved and play a sport with your friends. You’ll definitely get more out of the experience if you try it than if you never did at all. And the most unathletic girl is signed up for another semester of intramurals. Badminton, here I come.