Intramurals puts on first kickball tournament

by Ashley Van Alstine

Kickball brings out the inner child in college students.

Playing the game sends them back to their playground days, something junior Kim Opatz found out last week.

“It brings you back to the good old days of elementary school,” Opatz said. “We were huge into P.E. in fourth grade at recess. I loved playing kickball – my favorite part of the game was throwing the ball at people.”

Intramurals offered kickball for the first time this year, holding a one-night tournament last Wednesday. Though this was the first year kickball has been offered, prior to the event there were high hopes for a night filled with light-hearted fun.

“It is going to be a fun night to play sports and socialize,” said junior Reed Weston, captain of a kickball team. “My favorite part of the game is that chicks dig the long ball.”

There have been two other late-night intramural tournaments so far this year: softball and volleyball.

“We do a lot of activities that they used to do in P.E.,” said Nicole Darling, assistant director of student activities and recreation. “Students really seem to enjoy those intramurals.”

Intramural sports get picked through a council made up of staff members and about thirty Simpson students.

If students are interested in participating in a sport, they can go to the Intramurals Web site to register themselves or their team.

According to Opatz, there are many reasons students should participate in intramurals.

“People should do Intramurals because it will be fun,” Opatz said. “And who doesn’t want an IM T-shirt?”

Darling said because the kickball game fell so close to the return of students after fall break, participation wasn’t as high as expected. However, the Intramural Council plans to hold another kickball event next year, and they look forward to more students being a part of the game.

Three teams participated, with an estimated 50 students involved in the tournament.

Darling also said that perhaps next year there would be a tournament at the end of the kickball rounds, as opposed to a one-night tournament like this year.

But, students seem to like the late-night tournament – at least Weston did.

“Late-night athletics are a lot of fun and if you win you get to sport an Intramural championship T-shirt,” he said.