Throughout the University of Idaho campus, there has been a loss of events as a result of the pandemic, and intramural sports have not been left unscathed.
The pandemic has created feelings of uncertainty, social isolation, stress and more within students. Physical activity can sometimes help as a form of relief for those feelings and by implementing and following strict protocols, intramurals have been able to stay available for students across campus.
Audrey Dingel, a senior program assistant for UI’s intramural sports program, has been involved in intramurals since her freshman year. Dingel said she loved playing intramurals and wanted to be able to share this with others. She loved being able to have the opportunity to meet new people through intramurals and play the sports she loves with them. Dingel explained nearly everything about intramural sports has needed adjustments to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have a large amount of sanitizing equipment available, and we also have to sanitize balls between sports,” Dingel said. “Now, because they have implemented a cap on team members, we have had to change the rules for sports such as soccer and football so there is less contact involved between players.”
Dingel said because of the cap on team members there is no need to hire as many officials as usual. Officials are similar to intramural supervisors and are responsible for watching over gameplay to make sure the environment is kept safe as well as keeping players or spectators in line with rules in the intramural sports handbook.
“Normally our job includes having to train officials, but since COVID-19 began we have not been able to even have officials,” Dingel said. “The program assistants now are the officials, and we have to limit the program to sports which only involve one official.”
Dingel also said they now have to limit team members and require no spectators are allowed to watch the games. Dingel said this means students are not able to attend the games to cheer on their friends, which has been upsetting for some students. Dingel said it has also been difficult to maintain the proper use of masks during intramurals. Dingel said while people are playing sports, she has to constantly remind them to keep their masks up when it falls down during strenuous activity.
Although a lot has changed with intramurals because of COVID-19, Dingel said the activities have continued to bring people together as a community.
“The intramural program has a free agent option available so that if someone does not have a team, they can be added to a team who needs an extra player,” Dingel said. “This way, if they are struggling to connect with people, we are able to help them.”
Dingel said more people are involved in intramurals this semester, including Greek chapters and residence hall students. Dingel said more people are signing up for sports and people just seem overall more excited to be involved, especially after learning how to cope with a pandemic.
Morgan McDonough can be reached at [email protected]