The Norwich Guidon

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In The News

March 6, 2003

Intramural basketball gains popularity among students

By Jason Leonard
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

"What I like the most about intramural basketball is that we play as a team. Everyone plays their game in a relaxed environment," said Dana Harris, 22, a senior communications major from Springfield, Mass.

"I play because it's fun, I get to play with all my friends. We don't have a coach, and everybody just goes out there to have fun," said Ronnel Daniels, a 22-year-old senior communications major, from Hartford, Connecticut.

Students at Norwich University are participating in intramural basketball, a program that allows students a recreational activity away from their studies.

People are attracted to it for various reasons. "I like all of the trash talking that happens. It seems like, week in and week out, there is just so much trash talking," said Andrew Myers, a 23-year-old, senior business management major from Newport, Vermont.

"It is extremely competitive. It's a blast and a lot of fun. We go out there and win most of the time, but some teams give us a run for our money, the rugby team, and the football team.

"Every year there's a few teams who make the games close and exciting," said John Cappellano, a 21-year-old, senior business management major from Peacham, Vermont.

Preparation is what seems to be on the backburner of priorities to the intramural players.

"We don't practice at all. Everybody goes and shoots around, sometimes, but we don't have any organized practices.

"We're not worried about it. We have enough talent on our team to be able to play together as a team," Cappellano stated.

"I remember last year we got together a bunch of times to do a shoot-around, and mess around, to play some ball. But we didn't do much practicing," Allen said.

With so many people interested in playing intramural basketball, players were asked to express their feelings on why they'd rather play there than on the Norwich teams.

"I didn't play for Norwich, I don't really know why. It just seemed like it would take up a lot of time and dedication, and I wanted to concentrate more on my studies than on a sport, so it was good to have intramural basketball," said Greg Allen, a second year architecture major from West Charleston, Vermont.

"At a college level I can play basketball, but with differences with the coach, here, I choose not to. I just play intramurals.

"I'd rather not deal with the stress of playing for the school, and have fun," Daniels said. "I played for the Norwich basketball team my freshman year. I didn't have much fun playing at it," Myers said.

Last year there were reportedly some incidents during a couple of games.

"It's kind of hard to explain what happened. Some kids with hot heads who didn't realize it was just a game and that we're all there to have some fun and play basketball, they took things too seriously, and things got out of hand," Allen said.

Daniels added, "As for the fights, I think everybody was on an ego trip. They know certain people are better than them, and they try to stand their ground. When they do that, the person who is better gets upset, and it turns into an altercation."

"I think what happens a lot is, a player will get shoved, and there won't be a foul called. Then later the guy retaliates, and it escalates into a fight. It happens a lot," Cappellano said.

Some players believed that the referees were, in fact, the cause of some of the animosity shown on the court. As Dana Harris said, "I think there are fights, sometimes, because the guys know the refs won't be man enough to make a call."

" I don't know what could be done to stop the fights from happening. If they're going to happen, they're going to happen. You can't predict when there's going to be a fight, so there's no way of stopping it from happening again," Allen said.

Harris added, "What I've noticed at other schools is, they have referees who are players that know the game well and know what calls to make. I think if the refs were better, there would be fewer fights on the court."

Refereeing is an issue that was brought up numerous times among the different players who were interviewed. "I think we should get real referees, not student refs. Usually students that attend Norwich are the refs, and most of them are friends with some of the players on the teams. If they know someone on a team, they try to give them the edge. But, if you get someone to referee who doesn't know anyone on either team, that would be great," Daniels said.

Myers added, "Referees should not play favorites. Some guys may know players on a team and not call any fouls for the other team."

Allen thought the referees weren't getting enough credit. "I think for it being just intramurals they do a decent job. Some calls are missed, but that happens, and we shouldn't expect them to be highly qualified. At least we have referees there who want to be there. They're not the greatest, but it's just intramurals."

None of the intramural teams have any coaches. One would think that substituting players into the game could become a problem. "On our team, we don't have a substitution rule. We try to make sure everyone gets an equal amount of minutes. Lately, we've been doing it so that everyone plays 15 minutes, and for the end of the game we put in the guys who we think will win the game," Daniels said.

"If a guy has been sitting on the bench awhile, he'll yell out to the guys on the court. If a guy's tired, he'll ask for someone to come in for him. It seems to work out pretty good for us," Allen said.

Thus far, the intramural system has allowed many students the opportunity to play a fun sport this winter. Many of the players think the system could still be improved. "I think the referees should be trained a little more. Probably go through a course or something, just to give them a little heads up and help them to be more aggressive with their calls," Cappellano said.

Overall, Norwich's intramural basketball is fun, and people use it to have fun while getting to play with their friends.