Intramurals at Yale are spine-Tyngling fun

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Timothy Dwight intramural football players reach for the ballµand the coveted Tyng cup.

So you played sports in high school but aren't quite good enough to suit up for the Bulldogs this year. Yet when you step on the basketball court, you're still hotter than Claire Danes, CC '02. You're in luck.

The intramural scene at Yale offers a chance for you to continue your career at a surprisingly high level of competition or to start playing a new sport--not to mention a chance to prove that your college is supreme. "I'd never played volleyball or ice hockey before coming here, but now, they're my two favorite IM, and my two best sports in general," Shane Dizon, SM '00, the venerable secretary of Silliman IMs, said. "This is definitely a very exciting yet laid-back experience I never could have had in high school, and I think that's what the intramural program here is all about."

During my freshman year, I played B-hoops for my college, Jonathan Edwards (JE). Here are scenes from my first week:

6:00 p.m., Thursday: When I enter the dining hall, I see many sheets strewn about on a table. I approach them and see one labeled "basketball." Because I played in high school, I decide to place my name on the list. Thus my intramural odyssey begins.

8:00 p.m., Thursday: The oft-malfunctioning cordless phone in my suite rings and I pick it up. On the other end is the "captain" of JE B-hoops. "When is practice?" I ask. "What should I wear to tryouts?"

"You must be a freshman," he replies. Don't treat the captain like your high school coach. He does not know what he's doing and probably got roped into doing it because he owed a friend money. "The first game is Monday," he says. "Just come to Payne Whitney. You don't need to bring anything."

7:30 p.m., Monday: I walk up miles of stairs to the fifth-floor gym where all of the B-hoops games are held. You will not have to worry about this, thanks to the addition of four incredible new courts at the Lanman Center, on the ground floor of Payne Whitney. About 20 other players show up as well, some who look like they have never been outdoors and probably couldn't do curls with a stapler, others who look like they could do curls with a Buick. We struggled; none of us had ever played together before. We had no plays or even a rudimentary plan. Berkeley, our first opponent, had a more experienced team and beat us 39-33.

After this inauspicious start, however, JE B-hoops began to turn things around. In consecutive nights, we beat undefeated Morse and undefeated Saybrook. Though we did not win the "shirts" (the coveted tees given to each sport's champions), we finished in second place and had a great time.

IMs give you the opportunity to have non-academic interaction with upperclassmen and the chance to meet other frosh whom you would not have known otherwise. Following the season, I played pick-up games with many of the people that I met in that fifth-floor gym.

Your college will play a large role in shaping your intramural experience. Some colleges are known for extreme, religious devotion to their Tyng Cup scores. The Tyng Cup goes to the intramural champion each year, and points are assigned based on the number of wins that each college attains. Saybrook has won the Tyng for two consecutive years, but they are losing numerous key players to graduation. Look for Morse and Timothy Dwight to make big runs at the top and for Silliman to surge forward into the upper echelon. Berkeley should fall long and hard without any underclassmen IM secretaries, and Davenport, Trumbull, and Jonathan Edwards will continue to bring up the rear. Be sure to check page 27 of the Herald each week for complete standings and a complete wrap-up of your college's intramural exploits.

If basketball isn't your thing, many other sports are offered. In the fall, there is men's and co-ed touch football, men's and women's soccer, co-ed golf, co-ed lawn volleyball, tennis, cross country and table tennis. In the winter, you can play men's and women's volleyball, squash, co-ed inner-tube water polo, co-ed swimming and, of course, basketball. And in spring, there's Ultimate, co-ed soccer, co-ed golf, softball, baseball, and co-ed lawn volleyball.

Intramurals exist purely for enjoyment, sometimes an elusive feeling amidst Yale's academic intensity. "I played because it was fun," intramural secretary Seung Lee,
JE '00, said. "Keg beer softball is the best." If you're 21, of course. Talk to your college's IM secretaries about playing this fall.

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