Huddle Up? Teammates of Bang Bang take a timeout during a blowout game against Sigma Chi. Both teams are in the intramural A-league. Photo by Connor Wheeler.
Even IM basketball gets intense
With former NCAA basketball players, the intramural leagues are more competitive than students might imagine.
?You gotta call it both ways!?
Such exclamations were a recurring theme last Monday night in the Fieldhouse. The refs took a (verbal) beating, the players were some of the best on campus and the will to win was alive and well. Did I mention this was the intramural league?
Intramural basketball at Pepperdine occurs rather inconspicuously on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the Fieldhouse from January to mid-March, with three leagues competing for championships titles and trophy t-shirts to show for it. Any Pepperdine student (undergraduate or graduate) can start an intramural team in one of three leagues.
A-league, the most competitive and intense league, consists of (but is not restricted to) all-male teams and plays on Mondays. B-league, which is also very competitive, plays on Wednesdays and boasts female players on a few teams. The C-league is less competitive and more social, which attracts more relaxed crews. C-league teams require that at least two females be on the court at all times.
Students from all over campus come to support intramural teams comprised of fraternity brothers, freshmen dorm-mates, apartment-mates, fellow law school students and international program classmates, just to name a few. Some Heidelberg 2011?2012 classmates joined up to form Die blode Zeigen, while several undergrad Washington, D.C., natives make up the Posse Crew (so named for the scholarship program they represent) ? not to mention the ageless faculty and staff members of Staff Infection.
Another notable squad is Bang Bang, whose best players are members of the men?s basketball coaching staff. Captained by senior and Student Manager Patrick Flesher, the team is one of the strongest in A-league, thanks to the talents of student athletic trainer Dominic Redix (a junior who played on the team last year) and Graduate Managers Ricky Fois and Jon Pastorek, the latter being a 6-feet-10 former Division I basketball player at UC Santa Barbara (?11).
Jordan Baker, Lorne Jackson, Niko Skouen and several members of the men?s basketball team hung out courtside to watch Bang Bang play Rep SigEp, one of several fraternity-based teams. The Waves were vocal fans, exchanging words with referee (and copyeditor for the Graphic) Nate Tinner throughout the contest (all in good fun, of course).
Jackson, a senior shooting guard, said he cheers for his team?s staff because they have been there to support the Waves at every game.
?They do so much for us, and it might not seem like much because it?s an intramural game, but we want to thank them,? Jackson said. ?They?re going to go all the way!?
Rep SigEp, a longstanding A-league contender, gave Bang Bang quite a scare in a very close game. After the first 20-minute half, the score was tied at 27-27. SigEp brothers freshman Matt Vander Woude, freshman James McCutchen and junior Reid Stewart all posted hefty point totals and won the affection of the playfully equivocal Waves with every three-pointer they sank and ?and-1? they drew. At the final buzzer, however, Bang Bang stood on top, 68-56.
Intramural basketball is a community within Pepperdine that requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work from Campus Recreation employee and Program Manager Janae LaGroue, Head Referee Rmani Crawford, event supervisors and the staff referees and scorekeepers who work each game.
?It?s been a joy and a challenge organizing the league,? said Rmani Crawford, referee and? captain of an A-league and B-league team. ?Everyone really enjoys the league, and it?s by far the most popular intramural sport. There are a lot of good teams in this league, and I?m hoping my team Django Unchained can make a run deep in the playoffs!?
Django Unchained is? one of the few undefeated teams in the A-league and features students Grayson Kennedy, Kendrick ?KennyBPoppin? Roberson and staff writer for the Graphic Ben Holcomb; they are a good team to watch.
The players? jerseys may be smelly after they?ve been passed on to the fourth team of the night (one-hour games run from 8 p.m. until midnight on Mondays), and there may not be music or free t-shirts, but intramural basketball is quality sports entertainment and a great way to have fun, get exercise and watch some b-ball.
IM soccer displays talent
A great man by the name of Stafford Heginbotham ? former Bradford City FC chairman ? once said: ?Football [soccer] is the opera of the people.?
At Pepperdine, that statement is most certainly applicable. The league, organized by Campus Recreation, started the first week of February. The nine participating coed squads play each other in a round robin league format, with the top four teams advancing to the playoffs.
The teams participating in this year?s league are Futbolers, Jamaican Hopscotch, JPEN United, Sig Ep, Sigma Chi, Silver Panthers, Striking Vikings, Team Legendary and the Gunners. Although the league is well underway, players can still join participating teams on IMLeagues.com.
Casey Gillam, director of Campus Recreation, pointed out that intramural soccer stands out over other sports due to the fact that it?s not a solo sport.
?You have to rely on other people to make it happen,? Gillam said. ?It?s all about seeing teamwork, about people coming together to accomplish a task.?
The league, which lasts up to six or seven weeks, hosts games on Friday afternoons, with starting times ranging from 2 to 6 p.m. Matches can become surprisingly competitive because many players have had previous NCAA or club experience.
?There?s good talent for sure,? Gillam said. ?Some law school teams have players that used to play NCAA Division I soccer, while other teams have players that participate in club soccer.?
The winners of the league will get commemorative t-shirts that read: ?Intramural Sports Champion? on one side and ?Number 1. Greater. Intramural Champions? on the other.
When the intramural soccer season is over, students will have another chance to be a part of the Kick Tournament. The tournament, organized by the Office of International Student Services, is a campus-wide event that will begin either in the final week of March or the first week of April.
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Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @peppgraphic
Source: http://www.pepperdine-graphic.com/sports/intramural-sports-are-underway/
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