FMU’s Department of Recreational Services offers students the opportunity to meet fellow students and get active through its Intramural Sports and Events, which range from activities including basketball to spades tournaments.

Intramurals are sponsored by the university. Participation and any use of needed equipment is free of charge to students who participate.

Derrick Young, director of the Department of Recreational Services, said that all eligible students should to take advantage of these sports and activities that are no cost.

“If you want to play softball, but you don’t have a bat or a glove, we will provide it for free,” Young said.

The first intramural event that took place this year was, “Splish, Splash and Spades Tournament” held Sunday, Aug. 28 at the outdoor pool.

“It is an opportunity to enjoy the pool and meet new people,” Young said.

The other events that are part of the intramural sports include billiards, ping pong, flag football, spades, volleyball, kick ball, ultimate putt putt, soccer, bowling, basketball, racquetball, ultimate Frisbee, softball and tennis.

In order for students to be eligible to participate, they must not be on disciplinary probation and must be a current student. In previous years, FMU’s intramurals had a GPA requirement of 2.0, but has dropped that in order to allow the majority of students who want to play the opportunity to participate.

When an eligible student is interested in participating in an intramural sport, there are a couple ways to participate. For individual events, such as spades or billiards, students can show up to the event and sign up. Their name will be checked for disciplinary probation before participating. Once it is verified that they are not on probation, they are free to take part in the event.

For team sports, any student can apply to be a team manager. This person will retrieve a roster sheet from the desk in the Smith University Center or from in front of Young’s office and will list all of the students who are interested in being a part of that team. This list is given to Young, who then checks the probation status of all students on the roster. After all students have been cleared, they are approved as a team and are ready to begin competing.

Students who wish to join a team but do not know anyone starting up a team can be brought on as free agents. Young keeps a list of students who are free agents, and team managers can pick students from this list to join their teams as well.

Teams and individuals competing in the intramural events accumulate points as they do well and participate in the different events they take part in. Events, as far as points earned, are broken down into two groups: major activities and minor activities. For major events, 1 place gets 15 points, 2 10 points, 3 eight points, 4 seven points, and all participates receive five points. In minor events, 1st receives 10 points, 2 eight points, 3 seven points, and five points goes to all participants.

At the end of the year, these points are tallied up and championship awards are given in six different categories: overall points for fraternity and sorority, overall points or independent team for men’s and women’s and complete overall point’s championship for men’s and women’s.

Young said that there are many benefits from participating in FMU’s Intramural Program, including getting active to combat the notorious “Freshmen 15,” keeping the mind and body fresh and meeting new people who you may not have otherwise interacted with.

“It is an opportunity for our students to learn skills they are going to need later in life,” Young said. “They will learn teamwork and how to get along with others who may have different ideologies than themselves. It is a chance to meet new people and get memories that will last a life time.”

Students interested in learning more about intramural events and their schedule for this year can join their Facebook page, FMU Intramural Sports, or contact Young.