Intramurals provide students with a recreational outlet

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Submitted to the Simpsonian

Two minute shooting contest first and second place winners.

by Austin Bell, Staff Reporter

With the limited sports competing in the Fall semester and the current living restrictions, Intramurals has been a popular way for students to stay connected with friends.

SC Intramurals is still running a full schedule for this semester, even with the current circumstances.

September was full of different activities to do for intramurals. Whether students wanted to play tennis or head out to the driving range and hit some golf balls, Intramurals had it all.

Intramurals supervisor Enrique Idehen and the other staff members are surprised by the turnout.

“We didn’t know what it would look like with being in the orange phase, and we couldn’t even have actual sports like soccer, football and volleyball,” Idehen said. “We were intrigued how things would play out.”

Another worry about holding intramurals is how the precautions would affect them and how they would try and avoid the people who are playing from contracting COVID-19. 

“Masks, of course, is number one. We have to wipe down balls and other equipment that is being used. It’s just a lot of sanitation,” said Idehen.

The Intramurals staff was able to work out a deal with West Grand Golf that allowed students to use the driving range and putt-putt course for free every Thursday for the month of Sept. after 5 p.m.

Idehen said that the driving range has been popular and would like to continue to offer the free service in the future.

When the initial decision for fall sports such as football, soccer and volleyball to be canceled was made, some of the focus turned to what Intramurals was going to do. They found a way to get them cleared, and they continued to try and make things safer for the campus.

“It would have been terrible if we would have had 4 or 5 people test positive and then have it traced back to a volleyball game put on by intramurals. Just trying to keep everyone safe and make intramurals a place for fun and not a place for the spread of the disease,” said Idehen

Simpson has moved to the yellow phase in due part to the students and faculty doing their part in keeping everyone safe. This could change the outlook of the rest of the intramural season.

“Going into the future, that means we will be able to open more events, for now, we will stay with our current protocol. For the future, expect more activities as restriction loosens up,”  said Idehen.

 As the school year goes on, and as long as students are on campus, intramurals will continue to plan events. Students should stay on the lookout for different events to help them get away from school and life.

“We have bags tournaments coming up, badminton also three on three volleyball,” Idehen said. “Something to look out for is Simpson fitness classes. Everything from yoga on Sundays and some hip classes also core cardio stuff.”