Listen to fellow USask students share more about their experience with the intramural leagues available on campus.

Campus Recreation offers students a variety of physical activities to meet new people and get active. From clubs to classes focused on teaching new players the sport, there is something for everyone. If you enjoy team sports, keep reading to learn more about the intramural leagues. 

There is a diverse set of sports offered through the intramural leagues in the Fall and Winter terms, with different levels of play to meet students’ personal goals and interests. Fall sports include touch football, soccer, ultimate frisbee, spikeball, hockey, slo-pitch, basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, squash, tennis, innertube water polo, pickleball and badminton. In the Winter, basketball, dodgeball, volleyball, futsal, innertube basketball, curling, hockey and badminton are offered. 

There are two different levels of play, recreational and competitive. Recreational leagues are ideal for students looking to have fun and meet new people, and it’s recommended for those who are new to the sport. Competitive leagues are meant for students who enjoy not only playing the sport but also winning the games. There are women’s, men’s and CoRec leagues.

Georgia Heilman, a third-year Cellular, Physiological, and Pharmacological Sciences major has been a part of the intramural sports since she started her first year of university. She has enjoyed playing slo-pitch, dodgeball, and basketball. 

Growing up, Heilman played sports within and outside of school and decided to join intramurals as she missed that “aspect of [her] life after entering university.” she explained. Her favourite part of intramurals is “getting to be social with my friends, while also exercising and being active in a fun way.” She says it’s “[a] lot of laughs!”

Pushpita Bhowmik and Caden Snow are dodgeball teammates of Heilman. Bhowmik is in her last year of a Biomedical Science degree minoring in Philosophy, while Snow is in his 3rd year of Electrical Engineering. 

In the intramural leagues, Snow has played basketball, been the captain of their dodgeball team for the past two years, and is also captaining a water polo team this year. Snow explains that dodgeball was his favourite part of gym in high school. He says, “When I heard that they had leagues [for dodgeball], I was like, okay, I have to do that.” He continues by saying his interest in trying water polo this year arose from thinking “it would be fun to use the pools,” as he has “never actually been in the pools here.”

Bhowmik, having also played dodgeball and wanting to try water polo in the leagues, echoes this sentiment of enjoying dodgeball in high school and wanting to socialise with friends. “I think it’s all about trying new things and learning something you haven’t tried before,” she said.

Bhowmik also says there are many reasons why she loves the intramural leagues. Initially, she liked the time it gave her to have fun with her friends, and as she got more involved she enjoyed meeting new people not only on her team but also on the teams they played against, as well as learning new strategies. She says, “I feel our team picked up on strategies too—this is what we’re gonna do next game, this is what we like. We started watching YouTube videos too, and were like this is really cool, we should try it next time”

Snow says his favourite part of the dodgeball league is playoffs. He enjoys the competitive aspect of sports, playing against the best teams and wanting to win. “I kind of lost that when [I] age[d] out of those younger divisions, and then with the playoffs, you get that [competitiveness] back,” he explained.

Snow explains despite his heavy workload of engineering classes, being captain of his league teams is a way to clear his head, refresh and take a break from his books. He goes on to say how this break helps him study better. 

Bhowmik reflects on her time playing in the intramural leagues with gratitude towards Campus Rec for providing the space and tools needed to play, saying, “I think it’s cool and a great opportunity that Campus Rec even lets us do that type of thing” 

If playing in the leagues interests you, Snow says registration is fairly straightforward. To register, head to the Campus Recreation website and fill out the form as either an individual and they will try to find you a team, or if you have a team already you can register it directly. There are fees associated with each sport. If being a captain interests you, at the start of the season there is a meeting where organisers give important information to the captain, who then relays it to their team members. Heilman, Bhowmik, and Snow all recommend that students join the intramural leagues. Heilman sums it up: “If there is a sport you played growing up that you miss playing, or there is a new sport you want to try out, this is a great way to get involved! I like using sport as a way to exercise and be social, and intramurals provide both!”