ISU Bengal

Issue date: 9/19/07 Section: Sports

Shelby has been ISU's Intramural Director for five years. She also participated in intramurals as a student on campus and worked as part of the intramural staff. She also teaches different classes on campus and can be seen running around Reed Gym with friends and co-workers. She is married, her husand's name is Kyle and she has two children. She plans on doing the program for as long as she can and is always looking for ways to improve it. "One of the best opportunities that the program provides is for students who want to work, but don't have the time to be a student and have a decent paying job" Shelby says. The program employs a good number of students that not only officiate or keep score at the events, they also participate in playing the variety of sports as well. Spencer Sorensen is in his fourth year as an intramural employee/participant. The reason he keeps coming back, "I love sports, intramurals is a great way to be involved in them and I get paid to do it". The reason he says that others should get involved, "It can be a lot of fun, there is friendly competition, and many get to re-live the 'Glory Days' they had in high school".
There are never any fees to watch intramural sports and throughout the semester games and matches are played daily and nightly. Currently, the intramural program is busy with flag football. Games are usually held Monday through Thursday at Holt Arena. "The great thing about flag football, other than it is very popular, is that at the end of the season the championship team from the co-ed A league gets to travel to Tempe, Arizona on the campus of Arizona State to participate in the NIRSA's (National Intramural Recreation Sport Association) annual co-ed flag football tournament. Shelby tell us, "this tournament is a great opportunity to see other schools and to compete at a higher level rather than just locally." The ISU team has been the victor on a number of occasions and as Shelby puts it "the tourney in Arizona is definitely the highlight of the flag football season".
Not convinced of how exciting and intense it can be? "Several participants will take only one credit during the semester just so they'll be able to participate" Shelby says. People have even been seen to videotape the games to watch their performance to see how to improve upon their performance. Others come out just because it is a good chance to play. Trevor Jones, a Junior here at ISU has been playing intramurals since he enrolled. He plays because "it is a great chance to compete, stay in shape, and get to have fun with your friends, but the prize you get for winning is what I look forward to".
That prize can be summed up very easily. T-shirt. The winning person/teams of each event are awarded 'the coveted' t-shirt. Some practice and train, others come just to play. Whichever way you look at it, until you have a champions t-shirt of your own, you may never understand, as Spencer Sorensen put it "it's all about the t-shirt".

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