With the 2010 school year underway, the start of fall intramural sports is not far behind.

Grand Valley State University’s intramural program boasts 14 fall sports, ranging from slow pitch softball to a five-on-five basketball tournament.

John Rosick, assistant director of intramurals, said more than 3,500 different individuals participate in GVSU intramurals. There are more than 6,500 total players involved in intramurals if multiple sport participants are included.

Highlighting the start of the fall season is the opening of a new turf field next to Laker Village. The field, which was installed by the AstroTurf company during the summer, will be used by the intramural program, soccer teams, rugby teams and lacrosse teams. Six-on-six soccer will be the first intramural sport to utilize the new turf.

According to a press release from the AstroTurf company, synthetic turf fields can handle 3,000 hours of use a year, compared to 680 to 816 hours of use for a normal grass surface.

“That’s the first phase of a renovation of the whole field area,” Rosick said. “That will help out not only us, but club sports as well. It gives a whole lot of groups a whole lot of flexibility to play on.”

The turf will eliminate the muddy, late season games that have plagued the area in the past, Rosick added.

Other changes for the intramural program include new promotional materials and updated championship T-shirts.

“We have a new marketing person working with campus recreation who has done a fantastic job changing our flyers,” Rosick said.

The intramural program is also implementing a competition among the different housing communities. Communities will be awarded points in the year-long competition based on their team’s performance in a number of areas.

“They get a chance to see where our best athletes are in our on campus communities,” Rosick said.

Sign-up deadlines for the earliest sports start Sept. 3. Students can register online by visiting the Campus Recreation Web site at http://gvsu.edu/rec.

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