Sports

‘All things point upward’ for intramurals after fall semester

Students participate in an intramural softball match

Cody Eding
Dec 9, 2010

Increased participation from students and the approval for new facilities highlighted a successful fall season for the Grand Valley State University intramural program.

John Rosick, assistant director of intramurals, said the fall semester was good for the program on all fronts.

“We’re very pleased with how the semester went, both participation-wise and sportsmanship-wise,” he said. “It’s been one of the smoother semesters that I’ve been involved with since I started seven-and-a-half years ago.”

The semester marked the first time a housing competition was added alongside the athletic contests for the program. Rosick said the new wrinkle, which allowed housing communities to accrue points for performances in different sports, helped contribute to an overall increase in participation across many sports. He estimated about 2,500 students were involved in all of the different sports offered throughout the semester.

“We pushed about a 1,000 participants alone in soccer, which was amazing considering we only have two fields to run off of,” he added.

The new turf soccer fields located by Laker Village and new championship t-shirts introduced by the program also went over well, Rosick said.

Senior Matt Sundberg participated in intramural golf, soccer, football and basketball during the fall and has participated in many intramural sports throughout his four years at GVSU. This year, he won his first intramural championships as teams he was a part of took first place in men’s class A flag football and co-ed class C basketball.

“Intramurals was a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s good to go out and play for those kids who don’t play varsity sports here … The whole program is a great thing for Grand Valley.”

Intramurals received news in November that an $8.3 million field expansion and renovation project had been approved by the university’s board of trustees. Rosick said the fields, which will be completed during the summer of 2011, will greatly benefit the program.

“That’s going to benefit ourselves, club and varsity athletics,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to that, and we’re starting all the design phase and things like that. We’re looking forward to that coming onboard in August.”

With the other construction, such as the new library, undertaken by GVSU, Rosick said he was thankful for the university’s support of intramurals.

“This has been something that we’ve kind of been talking about for about a good year and a half now,” he added. “Eventually, all the stars aligned, and it happened.”

Rosick said he hopes the winter semester will prove to be as successful as the fall. The housing competition will continue with the Kistler-Copeland community holding a commanding lead, and a new intramural indoor track and field meet will be held March 30.

Participation surveys were e-mailed to students who competed in fall intramural sports Tuesday. The surveys will allow for the program to get more feedback on its offerings, Rosick said. Winter sports registration deadlines begin Jan. 14.

“Registration (for the winter semester) is now open, and we look forward to another great semester,” he said.

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Winter Intramural Sports Information

5-on-5 Basketball

Entry Deadline: Jan. 14

Fee: $45 per team

Indoor Track and Field Meet

Entry Deadline: March 18

Fee: $10 per person ($15 day of meet)

Racquetball

Entry Deadline: Jan. 21

Fee: $5