Tip Off for Intramural Basketball

By carolinianweb on January 20, 2016 • ( 0 )

Patrick O’Grady
Staff Writer

If you were at the student recreation center this past week, you might have seen signups for the intramural basketball season taking place. This week sees the new crop of student officials getting both classroom training on the rules of the sport as well as game time experience with exhibition games. The intramural basketball season at UNCG is in its final moments before taking off and some students are so excited that they just can not hide it.

“Definitely I am on a ten on a scale from 1-10 for the season,” said by one noticeably excited (and sweaty) student. “I am really excited to be involved in basketball this semester.”

His excitement over the start of the season does bring up the fact that teams could be formed of friends or complete strangers. Free agent teams are made up of students signed up under no team. It is in these teams that people can meet people with a common interest and form a friendship outside of the hardwood court. The game can also help with the monotony of school life, as said by one student. “I feel like being on a team is a great way to meet new people. I think playing on the intramural basketball team is a great way for me to socialize, as well as it is a great way to stay in shape. Playing basketball after a long day of class and studying is a great way to relax and unwind.”

However, at the end of the day, the vast majority of people do not sign up to play so they can make friendships. They play because they are competitors and love the game of basketball. The students who compete tend to have played previously in community leagues or as student in high school, as shown here.

“I played basketball all throughout high school so I think playing intramural basketball is a great way to keep playing.”

Many of these students have made the basketball courts at the rec center a second home, going anytime they have spare time. Dragging an extra bag with shorts and their sneakers in between class. Getting to the gym all alone to work on his or her’s game before competing in five on fives against the same people they usually see on the courts.

Now, the five on five games are not to twelve or sixteen, there are a two separate halves. The shots are not ones and twos, but instead the game regulated twos and threes. Referees will be in charge of fouls and the score instead of players on the court trying to keep track of the game. So for the next few weeks, the nights of at the rec center will be drowning in the sound of whistles blowing, the dribbling of ball and squeezing of shoes on the hardwood, and the voices of people saying gibberish to the untrained ear. The intramural sports season at UNCG is about to tip off and basketball is leading the charge.