The Physical Education and Athletics Department offers students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to participate in intramurals. The first three offerings for the 2007-08 year are indoor soccer, indoor ultimate frisbee, and volleyball. Each league plays for a three to four week period; participants receive a t-shirt in order to represent their team and commemorate their experience. While we chart statistics and standings, and teams compete in playoffs and a championship round, awards are not handed out. Intramurals are intended as a fun opportunity promoting fitness and camaraderie. Anyone interested in playing intramurals can sign-up at the Campbell Sports Center.

Volleyball Intramurals

In the third installment of Intramurals for the year, Co-Ed Volleyball took the floor this quarter. There were some new and talented faces joining the usual volleyball suspects. Teams were assembled to play a 4 on 4, round robin format. From the onset, the Purple team dominated play. The competition grew stronger each week as teams jockeyed for position in the playoffs. Ultimately, the Purple team proved they could not be beat. And unlike the Patriots, they managed to have "The Perfect Season." Thank you to all participants for making this another successful Intramural season!

Disc-o Fever Hits the Campbell Sports Center

Frisbee lovers came out to throw the disc for the first ultimate intramural tournament. The first week the players got together for some open play. Players were put on a set team for the following week for the start of tournament play. With a best four out of seven format, the blue team took an early lead with 2 wins to none. The green team rallied with a strong performance and ran off 2 wins of their own. Tied up at 2 wins apiece, the competition was intense with the blue team winning game 5 putting them up 3 games to 2. In the sixth game green was tough but the blue team couldn't be denied and won its fourth and final game to clinch the championship. This was a well played tournament, with the players showing great sportsmanship and camaraderie every week.

Thanks to all who participated for making this a fun and successful event.

Soccer Intramurals

By Allison Grande

For the past six Monday nights, the gym at the Campbell Sports Center has been filled with Sarah Lawrence students working together toward a common goal.

What could possibly have had the power to create such a phenomenon? The brand-new soccer intramural. Because there is no intercollegiate soccer team on campus, this first ever intramurals provided students with a chance to participate in an organized 5 vs. 5 soccer league.

“I’m having fun,” first year David Mazzuchhi said. “The games are a little short (at twelve minutes per game), but it’s nice to have an organized program where we can play soccer.”

Intramurals also offers a chance for students to interact and bond over a common interest. For first-year graduate students Monique and Stephanie, one of the best parts about this event is that it broadens their social outlets by giving them the opportunity to meet other students outside of their Human Genetics program.

Organized by Joe Iannotti and Kristy Mackiewicz, the entire group played randomly the first week so that Iannotti and Mackiewicz could assess their talents and split them into teams. In the second week the group was broken into six teams—Red, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange, and Yellow—and given free SLC intramural shirts corresponding with their team’s color. After a week of getting acquainted with their teammates in scrimmages, competition began in the third week. Each team played two games a night with a referee officiating and Iannotti keeping track of the score and time of each game. The gym was always packed because participants made a commitment to their team to be there every week.

Heading into the championships that took place on October 15, the Purple team was undefeated with a perfect 5-0 record. Red was in second place at 4-1, Blue was 3-2, Green was 2-3, Yellow was 1-4, and Orange rounded out the group at 0-5. In the semifinals of the Championship, the Purple team defeated the Green team while the Blue team beat the Red team. In the finals, the Blue team came up with the shocking upset over the undefeated Purple team by a final score of 3-0 to win the Championship.

Overall, the soccer intramurals highlighted the best parts of the Sarah Lawrence athletic program by showcasing great teamwork, lots of sportsmanship, and everyone having a great time playing together. Even after two hours of play, students remained in the gym to kick around until the Sports Center closed. As graduate student Monique pointed out, one of the best features of the intramurals was the “non-competitive competitiveness” that it offered, which was most evident in the fact that the champion received no extra award for winning the tournament other than bragging rights as the first ever intramural champion at Sarah Lawrence.

A different intramurals sport is planned for each quarter. Second quarter will feature ultimate frisbee, volleyball is slated as the third quarter intramural, and the fourth quarter option will be determined soon.