Intramurals hasn’t been popular in years at Fairfield.
But Director of Intramurals Paul Cantrell is beginning to change that.
“I take pride in making the intramural department the largest in the northeast,” remarked Cantrell who is well on his way to achieving that goal next year.
Last year, the program only included nine sports.
When accepting the position as director the following summer, Cantrell took on the task of examining the intramural programs of 11 peer institutions, including Boston College, Holy Cross and Fordham.
“We’re not above stealing from others,” admitted Cantrell who upped the total of sports this year from nine to twenty after his examination of other schools.
He also attempted to research within Fairfield University this year with mailbox surveys.
With only a response of roughly 150 out of the estimated 3,400 full-time students, Cantrell still used the survey to get a better understanding of what the students wanted.
Intramural participation seems to be most attractive to students who had a strong commitment to a particular sport in high school.
Mary Boehmer, ’06, a cross-country, basketball and varsity high school athlete, remarked, “I love getting involved in all the different sports each season. It’s fun to try new things, and it’s a great way to meet people by recruiting them to your team,” she said.
“I thought that by playing intramurals, I would get out and meet some really cool people,” agreed Mathew McAndrews, ’05. “It was less serious than when I played football in high school – kind of a laid-back environment, more my speed.”
With the end of this year’s spring season, the number of intramural sports offered to Fairfield students total 20, in comparison to last year’s nine.
This season included men’s and coed softball, coed indoor soccer, indoor flag football, three-on-three beach volleyball and two-on-two street hoops.
Coed softball is by far one of the most popular intramural sports with 35 teams combined in the men’s and coed leagues. This number was a set limit, cutting off others who wanted to play.
Cantrell cited limited field availability and time constraints due to daylight. “We didn’t want to chop up the sport by changing the rules and shortening the game,” he said.
This past weekend, intramurals hosted Championship Sunday for all spring sports.
Although the details are still in the works, there will be at least 25 sports in the program next year. Additions may include outdoor lacrosse, women’s floor hockey and frisbee.
The new field additions will allow such growth in the department. Alumni Field will be upgraded to a turf grass, allowing play in rain and mud conditions, which this year caused short seasons for outdoor football and soccer.
Another benefit this field will provide is the ability to play at night under the lights. Increasing the available hours of playing time will increase the limit of teams in specific sports, according to Cantrell.
The intramural department is also looking to expand its program beyond sports’ leagues.
Cantrell plans on hosting special events such as a swim meet, a mud volleyball tournament, a road race and a golf tournament.
With the improvements of this year and those to come next year, Cantrell hopes to “offer something everyone wants to participate in.”
Leave a Reply