Fun and Fitness: Warm up with winter intramurals

The winter semester may be a pain for many, but it holds a certain significance for first-year students. First-years no longer feel the insecurity of not knowing anyone in their classes…. so now we REALLY have no possible excuses as to why first-years cannot put a team together for winter intramurals!

I am going to outline what the Athletics Department has in store for second semester. This should answer the majority of questions our department has received in weeks past regarding the setup.

The winter semester hosts several co-ed intramurals, which have proven to be quite popular. All winter intramurals are held in the J building gymnasiums.

Co-ed volleyball tops the list, since most of us have played the sport at one point or another. You will often see programs battling it out for supremacy, such as the Police Foundations program going up against the Paramedic program. It gets even more heated when you have first- and second-year students from the same program trying to outdo each other for bragging rights. Nobody likes losing to their "younger brother," but it often happens and makes for a competitive time and a good laugh.

Three-on-three co-ed basketball is another option for the basketball enthusiasts out there. Guys will often scout for the tallest girl in their class in order to dominate the opposition.

Given that Fanshawe College is a very multicultural school, intramural men's and women's indoor soccer is always popular among the different ethnic communities. It's not out of the ordinary to have a Portuguese team duking it out against a group of Italians. Nothing beats a World Cup vibe to add to already competitive indoor soccer.

Then we have the mother of all intramural sports: ball hockey. Given that hockey is our nation's pride, it should be no surprise that this intramural is by far the most popular — expect anywhere between 60 to 70 teams.

The deadlines for co-ed volleyball and ball hockey have passed, and if you want to sign up for three-on-three basketball, hurry up — signups are due January 21. There's still plenty of time to sign up for men's and women's indoor soccer; deadlines close February 8. Men's and women's ice hockey will be continuing along from last semester, but it never hurts to ask if they could use some exceptional additions!

Head over to the Athletic Department in J building for further info and be sure to have the best AND most fun squad that you can assemble!