Intramurals Spring to Life

By Tom Schreier

The games are played on Bellomy Field or Malley Fitness Center. There are no small crowds. Players have to retrieve their own balls and must design their own uniforms - or are sentenced to a season in undersized, sweat-caked pennies.

This is the world of intramural sports.

Offered this quarter are three-versus-three basketball, softball, tennis, soccer and triples volleyball. These athletes do not get scholarships or priority registration. So why do they play?

"I personally choose to do intramurals because they give me the opportunity to take part in something physically competitive," said senior Ian MacDonald, "an aspect of high school that I really miss."

A lanky guard with a feathery shooting touch from three-point range and superb quickness, MacDonald plays on a three-on-three basketball team with juniors Nick Buckley, Jon Grambow and Jared Bradley.

Their team is undefeated in the three games they've played so far and are currently entering the postseason. MacDonald insists that the team is just playing for fun, but he is expecting better competition in the playoffs. Players have joined the spring sports for various reasons.

"I chose to do intramural sports to meet new people and have another fun thing to do with friends," said senior Brent Daniels. "My first group was a volleyball team with some random people from Dunne fall quarter of my freshman year. I got a chance to get to know some of my best friends that way."

One of the players he met was senior Brian Hogan, his current housemate.

"I have found that the program is unique in that it offers students the opportunity to meet new people and develop friendships while also being able to play the sports that they love," said Hogan.

Both Daniels and Hogan have prior experience playing volleyball.

Daniels played seven years of competitive volleyball starting in the sixth grade. He played club volleyball for four years in high school, and played two-man beach volleyball while honing his skills in the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for two summers. He has played international tournaments as a part of the US High Performance National Program.

Hogan began playing club volleyball in seventh grade and participated in both beach and indoor volleyball throughout high school.

Spencer Chavez is part of the club volleyball team at Santa Clara, but maintains that intramural soccer, which he had done for four years, has been an integral part of his Santa Clara experience.

"Our team originally started with a few guys in Dunne and we have been playing on the same men's and coed team since freshman year," said Chavez, whose sophomore squad won the men's championship.

"It's been a ton of fun and really added to my Santa Clara experience," he said.

Contact Tom Schreier at tschreier@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852.