Ward Sutlive, Campus Carrier sports editor
Sometimes it feels liberating to take a break from intense competition. Charlotte Karkuff, an intramural sports supervisor, expressed that sentiment when highlighting the exact things that separate intramurals from typical intercollegiate sports.
Karkuff, who will be promoted to Student Director of Intramurals next year, explained that this type of sport focuses on building community and allowing students and faculty alike to play in a non-rigorous environment. According to Karkuff, this is especially beneficial for those who played sports in high school.
“There are a lot of people that come to college and have played sports prior but don’t want to be a collegiate athlete,” Karkuff said. “Many still love that sport and being active, and we want to make sure that they’re still able to do that activity while they’re at Berry College.”
Recreation coordinator Tyler White said that intramural sports are non-competitive games that anyone at Berry can play in. There are different divisions for men and women, as well as groups based on skill level. The intramural department hosts several different sports, ranging from indoor volleyball to softball.
According to White, although managing all of these different sports can be quite labor-intensive, he greatly enjoys his work.
“The big thing I like to focus on is building relationships with my staff and the players, and I enjoy being there to support them,” White said.
Sophomore Jonah Hatchett is currently on two intramural softball teams. Hattchet said when he first came to Berry as a freshman, he barely knew anyone. After some convincing from a friend, he joined one of Berry’s intramural softball teams. Hatchett feels as though his experiences playing intramural softball have helped him become more social and outgoing, which he feels is vital to a good college experience.
“I was definitely missing something in my life, and softball was an opportunity to get out and play a game that I already enjoyed,” Hatchett said.
In her role as Intramural Sports Supervisor, Karkuff has a lot of responsibilities to handle. She schedules games for different teams, makes sure that the equipment is in good shape and handles communication between players and captains.
“The hardest part of my job is communicating with everybody, and trying to work around everybody’s busy schedules in order to make sure every team has the perfect roster,” Karkuff said.
According to White, the intramural department makes a great effort to treat intramural games like real athletic events while also making sure to leave the door open for fun and community building. Part of this is the intentional decision to make intramurals extremely accessible. Players sign up by logging into a website and selecting a particular sport. These games are open to Berry attendees.
“We do a good job of promoting intramurals on our Instagram,” White said. “Once you log in with your Berry email, you can sign up for a team and you’ll be good to go.”
According to Hatchett, people take intramural games much more seriously than one would think, especially in softball. Participants often wear high-grade cleats and play with intensity. Rather than taking away from the fun of the game, Hatchett thinks that this sense of competition is a worthwhile addition to the athletic event.
“At the end of the day, it’s important to not lose sight of the fact that you’re pretty much out there to have fun and meet people,” Hatchett said. “But when you can have a group of people that takes it seriously and embraces the competitive spirit of the game, that makes it ten times more fun.”
In the coming year, White is planning to come up with new ways to draw people into intramurals, thus creating a bigger turnout than ever before. He has a couple of ideas already, such as creating intramural yard games, as well as recreational sports like cornhole and spike ball. Recently, the department has also resumed hosting golf matches. White believes that his department is already on the path to success, and if they keep at it, they should be OK.
“We want to throw out new ideas,” White said. “One thing that we like to do is try to make things happen, and make sure that the people get what they want, and I’m really supportive of that.”
According to Karkuff, the department does behind-the-scenes administrative work to keep things running smoothly. Training is a big part of intramurals, and the department takes it very seriously. They partner with the University of Georgia to hold training sessions, which are led by referees.
“We try our best to be able to know all of the rules and officiate well in order to make the training sessions as professional as possible,” Karkuff said.
One thing that surprised White is the tenacity and dedication that several intramural participants have shown during games. According to White, many participants in a recent five-on-five basketball championship treated it like a real game. The entire Cage Center arena was reserved, an announcer provided narration, and statistics were run on players. Yet throughout the game, White was continually impressed by the fact that everyone still managed to have fun while also maintaining and displaying a healthy competitive nature.
“When people have fun and really get to showcase what they can do, those are always the best weeks,” White said.