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SPORTS

Intramural sports part of Norwich University's active tradition

By Eric Murphy
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Intramural sports provide an opportunity for students at Norwich to stay active in a variety of sports.

Intramurals offer students who don’t play a club or varsity sport a chance to play competitive sports and also get some exercise.

Intramural sports have been at the university for 10 to 15 years, and in the past they have had some different formats which has been very successful. This year, student activities wanted to come up with something different to increase participation.

“This year, we wanted to try something new, so the commandant’s staff and committee got together to create a new format, hoping that the participation for intramurals would increase,” said Dr. Chandler Stowell, NU Director of Student Activities, Intramurals, and Recreational Sports.

This year’s format was set up in hopes of making intramurals bigger and to get more students involved.

“In the past, we had a sign-up sheet, and we had a variety of team, corps companies, and civilian groups,” Stowell said.

This year’s format is different in that, instead of sign-up sheets, they decided to organize by dorms and barracks, providing each dorm and barracks their own team. This was an interim idea to get more involvement and organization from the student population.

Stowell said the former method, “Isn’t working; it’s broken,” adding that he will continue to seek ways to improve the ways intramurals are organized. He hopes this year’s system will see greater involvement. But some students at Norwich who enjoy playing the intramurals Norwich offers say that they would rather have it the old way than grouped by dorms and barracks

“I have been playing intramurals for two years, and it’s fun, it’s pretty cool,” said Curtis Thompson, 19, a sophomore communications major from Lawrenceville, N.J. “I play intramurals so that I can get in shape for baseball.”

While some students play intramurals to get exercise or to stay in shape for a club sport, others just play intramurals because they still like to play sports and didn’t want to stop playing when they got out of high school.

“I play intramurals, because I still love the sports, but I’m not at the competitive level where I can play on the school’s team, so I play for fun,” said Norman Cole, 20, from Fitchburg, Mass.

Intramurals offered at Norwich include soccer, volleyball, flag football, basketball, and softball.

“We do a lot of exciting things, and we try to get the kids involved. Get out, and get some exercise!” Stowell said.

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, 158 Harmon Dr, Northfield, VT 05663. www.norwich.edu/guidon.