The secret sauce behind Taylor University’s vibrant intramural sport culture?
It’s not just contingent on player involvement.
“You can tell by even looking out at the lines out there,” senior Reid Long, intramural sports and recreation president, said. “Right in between the fields is the most worn-down spot out of all the fields. That’s crazy. That’s not normal.”
Intramural sports have been around at Taylor for decades, yet they seem to be ever-increasing in prominence.
Earlier this year, the university was ranked eighth by The Princeton Review for intramural sports, boasting an involvement rate of nearly 50% of the student population.
So far this year, there have been 621 unique participants out on the fields — a number that has increased from previous years, Long said.
This year, the intramural cabinet team is aided by Nick Holtz, one of the Taylor Student Organization graduate assistants. Holtz came from Spring Arbor University and was astounded by the sheer participation and enthusiasm surrounding the games.
“He said that the first day of intramurals out there was more people than was at any game, even championship games for them,” Long said. “And that’s really cool. It’s just the community behind it.”
Long leads a team of six cabinet members, all fulfilling different roles to help intramurals run smoothly from week to week and season to season.
This year, the team includes: seniors Ian Brookshire and Alli Myers, sophomores Johnny Stewart and Shane VanderZee and juniors Jax Werner and Rachel McManus.
One of Long’s main goals as president was to establish different positions within cabinet for students to apply for based on their various strengths rather than just hiring a group and shouldering the same responsibilities.
“I sat down with Frank (Smith) at the end of last season, because last year he was intramural president too, and he said one of the biggest things when creating a team is learning how to delegate and the responsibilities of that,” Long said.
One of the positions Long created is marketing director, a role that Brookshire has stepped into.
Long’s hope is that, by increasing marketing tactics, the group can take advantage of the lively wing and bro-sis culture already present within intramurals.
For Brookshire, intramurals were the thing that helped him break out of his shell and connect with people outside of his dorm right from the start.
“I know people want to compete, but at the end of the day, it’s about bringing people together and bringing community to something that is so well loved on campus (as) intramural sports,” he said
The cabinet members meet every Thursday night to discuss the tasks associated with the game schedule for the week.
Werner headed up the flag football season this fall.
As the cabinet member in charge of the sport, his main responsibilities were to arrive early to games, make sure the lines on the fields were adequately spray painted, set up the cones and flags and manage the referees.
“It’s kind of an easy process once you get a schedule out there and the (referees) kind of know what they’re doing, and then it’s just rinse and repeat,” he said.
Stewart’s role is to manage the soccer season and schedule. His favorite part about the sport is the co-ed aspect — that bro-sis and wings can come together, not just to cheer each other on, but to compete alongside each other on the field.
His encouragement for anyone looking to join an intramural sport is to engage in the fun and be carefree. No one is there to judge your skill level, he said.
McManus and Myers coordinate the referee schedule and manage tournament logistics.
“I feel like they don’t get enough credit, either,” Werner said. “No one sees how much work they put in behind the scenes. They just see (referees) show up and then they’re at the game and no one knows how much scheduling goes in behind that, just so you can go out there and play for an hour.”
Brookshire’s favorite intramural sport is basketball.
The season starts in the winter each year and draws students from across campus to compete under one roof.
“It’s so fun to go out there for a 7:00 pm basketball game, and you have people (surrounding) the courts for like a C-league intramural game,” he said. “It’s very rare to see two teams playing and no one’s there watching. There’s a culture that’s there around it that’s not just the people playing sports; it’s the people that are there because it’s a good time, and it brings people joy to watch.”
It’s not just the players on the court or field, but the community that gathers to watch and cheer. It is, after all, the grass covering the sidelines that is the most worn part of the soccer field.
Long believes this type of involvement is what sets Taylor apart from other schools in its sphere. Even though competition can get intense, it’s all about community joining together, he said.
