It’s the most popular, the most intense, the most played, the most centripetal and, ultimately, the first intramural sport on campus. Intramural football begins this upcoming weekend with many teams eager to get at it.

“People seem to take football more seriously. People really want to win football,” said Intramural Committee Chairman Michael Warren Anderson.

“It’s one of the only IM games that people actually come and watch. Maybe because it’s on Ankeny, maybe because it’s so intense,” said Intramural Committee Member Sydney Stasch.

However, attached to the sport’s intensity is the sense of camaraderie it fosters.

“IM sports really resonate with how I feel at the school in general insofar as it promotes a sense of community, because even though we’re in competition, we’re essentially just all playing together on Ankeny,” said Anderson. “It’s just a more organized form of what you’d see on any beautiful afternoon.”

A lot of people find that their sense of community while playing football isn’t contained to the football field either.
“I’ll hang out with my friends on the football teams and we’ll just talk about plays that worked, what happened in the game, what was memorable and it’ll go on for hours,” said Stasch. “Even when we go out at night we’ll just play football. It’s weird, but we can’t help it: it’s addicting.”

IM football is also a way for first-year sections to bond with each other and older teams.

“Since [football] happens on Ankeny, it gives the freshmen a great way to come together and make more friends and so it becomes more of a social experience as well,” said Anderson.

For first-year Linh Le, member of team “That’s What She Said” from Jewett 3-West, football will be a way to bond with her section, as well as her first experience with playing sports.

“I’ve always wanted to play sports, but I’ve never felt like I was good enough to play a team sport that was a real commitment and I feel like IM sports are really low-key and anyone, whether they’re experienced or not, can join,” Le said.

Out of respect for what intramural football means to the Whitman campus, the IM Committee has increased its intensity as well. According to Stasch, last year the committee only met once a week for about 10 minutes, if that. This year, the IM Committee has met every week for at least an hour to discuss all the problems that might arise during competition. There are several.

Sometimes, people’s intensity for playing football carries over into their reaction to the way the IM committee governs the game.

“It’s frustrating because people accost us from outside of the IM Committee,” said Stasch.

To help focus this discussion into one forum, Anderson created the IM Athletes listserv, where discussion of rules, incidents in games and announcements or advertisements for other sports will be found. However, so far there are only about 300 students on the listserv, which is not enough to make sure everyone knows the important information.

“I continue to receive e-mails from people asking questions that are answerable if they were on the listserv in the first place,” said Anderson.

That way, people can leave their intensity on the field.