Courtney Weaver sits down with Emily Murphy, the Competitive Sports Graduate Assistant with Campus Recreation, to talk all things intramural sports. They chat about the benefits of playing, what sports you can play, and how you can even get paid to work with them! For more information on intramurals, visit: https://wvugo.wvu.edu/ and https://campusrecreation.wvu.edu/intramurals.
Transcript:
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Wellbeing Wednesdays. I am your host, Courtney Weaver. I am also the director at WellWVU here at West Virginia University. And joining me today is Taylor Allen. She’s an advanced practicum student at the Carruth Center. She’s a friend of the podcast cause she’s been on it before, but we were having her back because she’s got more to say.
Hey there everyone. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to wellbeing Wednesdays. My name is Courtney Weaver. I’m the host of this illustrious podcast. I’m also the director of welder review here at West Virginia university. And with me today is Emily Murphy. She is the competitive sports graduate assistant with campus recreation.
So Emily, how are you doing today? I’m doing great. How are you doing? Oh, you know, we’re recording on a Friday. And actually it’s important to note, so this episode will be released on St. Patrick’s day. So Wednesday, March 17th, just a reminder to every Mountaineer out there to celebrate safely. We are still in the middle of a pandemic, even though we like to think that we aren’t.
So we need to still physically distance and wear our masks. And also we need to employ some harm reduction strategies for our drinking in case that is on your agenda. So pace and space, those drinks eat before and while drinking. And remember it’s a school night because it’s Wednesday. All right. So sorry, Emily.
That was a quick sidebar. But Emily, before we get into our topic, which we’re gonna talk about intermediate. Of course today. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at the university? Yeah, absolutely. So, hello, everyone. Very excited to join you all today. As Courtney mentioned, my name’s Emily Murphy.
I’m currently the second year graduate assistant for competitive. Sports within the West Virginia university campus recreation department. So I help coordinate both the intramural and club sport programs while pursuing my master’s degree in sport management. And I anticipate graduating in may of this year.
So I’ll assume me leaving, but my experience so far has been absolutely wonderful. Oh man, you’ll be headed off into the adult world, which is overrated. Just kidding. Well, that’s exciting. That’s a really great accomplishment to get your master’s degree. So congratulations, preemptively. So let’s talk about intermural sports.
So what has campus rec offered this year in terms of am sports? Yeah, absolutely. We we’re very fortunate through the, the ever changing landscape. Of our in-person and virtual activities to offer a variety of both of those. So our goal was to reach a wider population and really meet the needs of participants while classes were moved online in-person activities were limited and delayed at different.
Periods throughout the year. And morale was low knowing that our intramural sports is often a highlight of a lot of participants experiences on campus. Without the inability to play it, it made it a little bit challenging, but as comported, competitive sport staff we were, we were offered a cool opportunity at that point to be a little bit more creative in what we were able to offer and to what capacity we were able to provide.
The experiences that a lot of folks were looking forward to. So In that variety of, of in-person and virtual events. We offered things in the fall, like softball and kickball which, which took a little bit of tugging and pulling with the university to approve, but we were able to do it safely.
And we had about six teams participate in softball as well as a home run Derby, which was pretty exciting. That was our first time doing that. We facilitated a two person golf scramble, which we’re looking forward to offering again in the spring. I mentioned kickball. And then we also did a couple of e-sports virtual events in the fall.
And that carried over to this year as well. Yes. So actually, quick question. Do people still say I am sports or is that like old school? We do still use the term but. For this year we’ve we’ve really sort of portrayed it as more of small group activities. Okay. So we’ll, I’ll, I won’t say I am sports anymore.
I must say, as a retired, like adult kick baller, I always appreciate when I see like kickball on the roster for, it was so fun. We had a canvas rec department team that went out every Thursday and that was super fun. We did not win the championship. For that, but we did win softball. Okay. Well, you know, pre pandemic, there was a challenge thrown down between the office of student wellness and the Caruso center.
And at first they were going to do a volleyball game, but then it was changed to kickball and it has yet to occur. And I really want it to happen because it will be really fun. Warms up. Yes. So, I mean, it’s really sunny today, so maybe, maybe soon. All right. So on average, how many participants do intermurals have?
Yeah, so in a typical year more, more of our major sports have. Anywhere between 80 and a hundred teens with people playing on team sizes, anywhere between four and 10. So last year, last year, so 2019 through 2020 we had about 1500 participant unique participants throughout the year. This year we’re at about 400 to 500 Not necessarily unique, but that’s the tally we’re at right now with those smaller sport sizes.
So for instance, in the spring we’re offering two V2 Spikeball so the team sizes are a bit smaller. And then for before outdoor soccer as well. So again, just the team sizes. Sort of impact those numbers, but we do have a lot of people both on and off campus play. So what do you think is the most popular intermural sport basketball?
100%. We had about 84 teams last year, last spring red. Yeah. Registered and signed up, but we weren’t able to. We weren’t able to play a full season. So we had to cut that a little bit short, but since then the folks This semester, actually, we had about 15 teams sign up for Spikeball and this was the first time that we’ve really offered it as an intramural standalone league.
So I think that’ll be a one that’s up and coming. So our listeners and mostly me aren’t really familiar with spike ball. So could you give us like a quick rundown of what that is? Sure. Yeah. So spike ball is played, like I said two. Two people on a team versus two people on a team there’s a circular net sort of on the ground.
And if you are familiar with volleyball at all, it’s a little bit like that. It it’s in a rally system, so to speak, but the field or the court is three 60. So I’ll serve too. So I’m serving to Courtney she’ll return it. You and your team have three opportunities to pass it back to my team. There are a couple of different like terminologies and things like that.
But because like I said, the net and the court is three 60. You can move from all different areas of. Of the playing field. It’s really quite exciting. And the, the folks that we’ve been having out there play are very, very competitive. Oh, wow. Well, it sounds like it’s probably a good workout if it’s a three.
Absolutely. No. So for all the intermurals, do you have to be a student in order to play? So we offer our programs to student, faculty, staff, and spouses of any student faculty or staff member this year we’ve also removed the internal all access pass fee which was typically a $12 fee for the semester to plan any of our intramural sport offerings.
But we wanted to make it a little bit more accessible for folks and remove some of the financial barriers considering You know, the rec is an open. So folks aren’t actually coming into our spaces and it can, it can certainly have an impact on whether or not you’re going to participate in something.
So we want, we want the more, the merrier. All right. And so let’s see. So I’m a staff member, but I am not a member of campus recreation. I have a membership to an offsite gym now. Could I still play air barrels if I pay for the membership or do I have to be a member of campus rec? Yes. So As faculty and staff, you do actually have to have a membership before being able to register because our registration platform is connected to the WVU and campus recreation membership information.
Oh yeah. So for any of our, our sport offerings, you’ll register on WVU go we have an app or you can go to WW. Dot WVU go.wvu.edu. That’s a lot of W’s. So that can certainly be tricky. But you’ll, you’ll input that information there. Okay. Okay. Well, we’ll make sure to drop that link into the description of the podcast and folks, if case folks want to go and check and check out the website.
Okay. So what are the benefits of participating in an organized activity like intermurals? Yeah, absolutely. They are vast and many I think overall folks who participate in our intramural sport programs either want to have an opportunity to just recreate with their friends and have a good time, or they’ve played that sport competitively in high school and really want to have that sort of team and you know, participants.
Playing sport feeling right, like just being able to get the, get out there and recreate and, and play the sport that they enjoy playing. I think intramural sports has an additive transferrable benefit that some folks don’t necessarily think of right away. But when I think of intramural.
It really is another way for students and our participants on and off campus to get connections network with people and, and really feel a sense of belonging to campus and to the campus recreation department and the people that are in it because we really strive to be intentional with our diverse offerings.
And with that comes an inclusive and an open. Platform for people to not only meet people, but try something new or you know, something that they’ve never tried before. And they really do get a lot out of that. And I think it contributes to folks holistic wellbeing whether they’re there on campus or off.
That’s true. All right. Well, okay. So some people might not know this, but campus recreation departments like across the country are often like really huge employers of students. And on campus jobs are important for helping students feel connected to a university. If a student feels connected, they’re more likely to stay and graduate and all that good stuff.
So can students work specifically for any murals and if they can and what capacity. Yes, absolutely. We have one entry-level position for intramural sports and that’s to be an intramural sports official. You. Don’t need any experience prior to if you apply to be an intramural sports official way, will provide you with all of the rules, knowledge and interpretations, as well as a variety of input sorry, classroom.
So reviewing the rules. Stations, training, where you’re learning the mechanics and different field or court positioning and then scrimmages. So you can have hands-on experience before you actually get out to the games. Being an intramural sports official is really awesome. You’ll get plenty of transferable skills and that application is on just the WVU campus recreation site.
We’ll get you a stripes, we’ll get you. And pretty much story out there. And it really is. A great opportunity, like you said, to, to be further connected and then once you’re in official we do have opportunities for you to move. Up within our program and be an intramural sport supervisor where you’re evaluating officials, you’re setting up for games, checking participants in and working a little bit more on the administrative side of things.
Okay. Interesting. And then, so for this semester, it’s been weird. Just because of the pandemic. I mean, that’s been the case for the past year at this point. So what are some of the, you mentioned it earlier about like virtual contests that might be happening. So could you talk a little bit more about that?
Sure thing I absolutely can. I am very excited about the virtual opportunities that we’ve been able to provide because like you mentioned, it’s the, it’s the first time we really have needed to do this. And really meet the participants where they are and with what they want. So specifically this semester we have a couple of more virtual opportunities coming up.
So we we’re facilitating an e-sports rocket league. And our clay off event is. This upcoming Sunday March 7th at 6:00 PM. And you can watch it on our very own WVU campus recreation, Twitch channel for all of you gamers out there. It’s WVU rec sports. I have learned so much about Twitch and discord.
It’s, it’s crazy. I I’m not hip with all of the lingo yet, but I anticipate that I will be coming. So that should be a really exciting thing to see. We have 10 to 14 folks actually playing in that tournament on Sunday. So that to be a good one to watch, then we have a variety of e-sports tournament as a competition between WVU and Marshall, actually.
So we partnered with Marshall university’s campus recreation department, and we’re going head to head with them with call of duty being the next one on Wednesday, March 10th. You can still sign up for that on WVU go. And if you have a PlayStation, Xbox and call of duty war zone definitely would encourage you to sign up.
The one after that is a rocket league tournament. So I, I think folks on our campus really enjoy rocket league. And if you’re not familiar with that, it’s kind of like a mixture between I am going to say NASCAR. And soccer you’re in a car basically. And you are the goal, the goal and objective is to get the ball in to the goal, into your opponent’s goal.
But all, all virtually it’s, it’s really cool to watch. But the one. Or that tournament against Marshall will be on Wednesday, March 31st. And you can play rocket league on any platform. So your computer X-Box PlayStation, things like that. And then we’ll also have a couple of single day events too.
We have a trivia event that will incorporate some WVU and Morgantown. Knowledge. So any of y’all who are our experts on that? As well as sports trivia on Thursday, March 18th. So right after this podcast airs and that will be facilitated via zoom. And then a minute to minute social media challenge that’ll be four weeks for challenges or winners starting on Monday, March 8th.
Well, Emily, let’s wrap it up. So thank you so much for being here today. Is there anything else that you’d like to share? Yes, I would. Just like to share a quick testimonial from one of our intramural sports supervisors, Clubsport supervisors and intramural sport program assistance. Larry Cook has been a really influential student employee with us throughout my time here.
And I’ve, I’ve only been here since August of 2019, but he’s really been pivotal in how the program has developed and what offerings we provide as well as the transferable skills. And buy-in from the rest of our student employees. He says, and I quote, intermural sports has been super positive for me.
It’s allowed me to become a better peer leader and find. A group of not only friends, but families, but family, excuse me. Along with that, it allowed me to compete as an athlete again. And for that, even in the COVID environment, I’m forever thankful. So we appreciate all of our student employees, all of our participants on campus and look forward to being able to provide y’all with more in-person and virtual opportunities to come.
All right. Well, thank you, Emily so much for being with us today. We really appreciate it. And to all of our. Many listeners out there, we appreciate y’all as well. And we will catch you next time on Wellbeing Wednesdays.
