Intramural soccer kicked off this week, and 13 teams will play Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons during the two-and-a-half week tournament.
Twelve teams played in July's softball tournament, about average for summer terms, club and intramural sports director Joann Brislin said. During fall, winter and spring terms, teams are split into leagues by gender and by ability, but summer term leagues include mixed male and female competitions because fewer teams participate.
Greek houses, freshman floors and performance ensembles often comprise intramural leagues, Brislin said. This summer, each of the 12 intramural softball teams was from a Greek organization, of which 10 were fraternities and two were sororities.
Beta Alpha Omega fraternity beat Alpha Delta fraternity in a comeback victory to win the summer intramural softball tournament on July 25. A five-run final inning launched Beta to its 8-3 victory in the second game of the double-elimination round. Beta had lost the first game, 4-5.
Jimmy Boldt '15, who leads intramural sports for Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, said his fraternity has a "strong history" in intramural sports.
A high school baseball player, Boldt said playing this summer felt like a natural fit.
"It's always fun to have everyone come out and play," Boldt said. "It's a good way to represent the house."
Bergina Francois '15 competed for Sigma Delta sorority's team. Francois, who played softball in high school, said she wanted another chance to play the sport in college.
"A lot of people were in the same boat," she said. "Some had never played and just wanted to try."
About half of the 10-member Beta softball team play varsity sports. In contrast, some players on Sigma Delt's softball team play rugby, a club sport, but most do not compete for the College.
"Since there weren't coed teams, we got blown out by the guys, but it was still fun," Francois said.
Sigma Delt lost to Phi Delta Alpha fraternity early in the tournament.
This year's softball tournament was fast-paced, as games needed to end before the soccer tournament began. Teams throughout the tournament forfeited games when few players showed, and games could not be rescheduled due to the time constraint, Francois said.
The intramural program attracts almost 4,000 participants each year, a figure that does not account for repeat players. Of these, varsity athletes do not encompass the majority, but some Big Green varsity teams play a new sport together. Football players have played intramural volleyball together in the past.
"It's a different way that people have a chance to be active, to play a game, to be out with their friends," Brislin said. "It's not terribly intense, so you don't have to be very good, but you can be."
Players on the Big Green 2012-13 varsity softball and baseball rosters could not participate in the intramural tournament, and varsity soccer players on this year's roster cannot play within the soccer tournament. Some varsity players attend games as team coaches.
Yesterday's scheduled intramural soccer games were canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Other summer intramural offerings include the cornhole doubles tennis tournament and the 30-day Ironman challenge.
Alex Johnson contributed reporting.
