By Miranda Parish
Elm Staff Writer
While students are getting busier and clubs begin to hold interest meetings, there is one aspect of campus that many new students have joined: intramural soccer.
Coordinator for Campus Recreation Evan Clayton is in charge of all Intramural Sports offered here at Washington College, and their games as well.
“Right now, we have two [IM] here on campus and we’re looking to have two more,” Clayton said. “We hope to start off with two in the spring and have three or four more by the end of the year.”
Before becoming the Campus Recreation Coordinator, Clayton was the assistant coach of the sailing team.
Clayton said that he while he enjoyed traveling with and watching the sailing team, he loves that IM allows for more audience participation from students.
“I really love all of the students who come to the IM games, whether they participate or not,” Clayton said. “I’ve really enjoyed the turnout we have for soccer. The fact [fans] can cheer for people in the games in the stands is a really good selling point.”
Students are able to participate in more activities on campus in this way, regardless of if they are athletic or not. Certain student-athletes and students not involved in atheltics alike come together to watch their peers on the field.
Senior Seyed Marjaei is the captain of the FC International team, a team which is primarily composed of international students, and said he was really surprised with the turnout this year.
“I was contemplating putting this team together because I was really busy, but it just took me a little time and I just gauged interest and everyone was up for it,” Marjaei said. “And little did we know we were up to nineteen people on the roster.”
The ability to join groups on campus has been a success through the various IM sports. Students of different disciplines and interests are able to come together over a friendly, yet competitive, game of soccer.
“One of the things it’s done is allowed us to bring other people, like Americans, to come together to play soccer,” Marjaei said. “We always sort of are a bubble, but this has allowed to us to expand the bubble instead of reinforcing the bubble we had.”
The FC International team isn’t the only group on campus that has brought new people together. Across IM Soccer and the start of other IM sports, teams have been diverse and consisted of a wide range of classes, friend groups and majors.
Senior Lenny Brogen, captain of the IM team Theocracy of Bread, said that having a similar grouping of people from last year’s IM season has benefited their teamwork.
“So far, we’ve been doing good this season,” Brogan said. “We’ve been having a lot of fun, which is what I really care about. We now have a winning record officially, as we were very average going into this game. This is our second year with this team and the main group of people, and we just do it because we enjoy getting out here playing and we love soccer, so it’s just fun.”
Being able to have the games later at night and in the stadium has been attractive for students, as the game location is well-known and more informal than a traditional soccer game held at the College.
Students are able to stop by and cheer on others at their leisure. Most IM soccer games have started around 9:30 p.m., which has been a successful time regarding turn out as other events and clubs are finished for the day.
Other IM Sports this semester include volleyball and flag football, with other sports offered in the spring.
For information regarding participating or being hired as a Campus Recreation Officer, contact Clayton at eclayton2@washcoll.edu.
Photo courtesy of Mia Snyder.
Photo Caption: Two IM soccer games run simultaneously, allowing for four teams to play at a time.