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UW intramurals offer opportunity for unique athletic experiences
Students find academic escape, new friendships through program
Maddox Durst/The Badger Herald
As the school year kicks off, the beginning of intramural sports emerges, allowing students throughout campus to come together and participate in athletic activities.
Through the Recreation & Wellbeing program at the University of Wisconsin, any student can sign up to play in a multitude of sports, including volleyball, basketball, softball and more.
The program provides opportunities for students to be active and create new friendships outside the constant grind of academics in the classroom setting. UW recently upgraded the system in which you sign up to play, offering students easier access to create teams and know their schedules using Fusion Play.
“You can organize it by category, so you can check certain boxes such as your gender, sport and times and days that you’re available to play,” University of Wisconsin junior Nate Navarro said. “Then, it will give you a bunch of options with a link that you send to your teammates, and then you click the link which makes them download the app. You send an invitation and get hooked up pretty easily.”
Through the use of Fusion Play, the Recreation & Wellbeing program at UW has the ability to track statistics, stream live gameplay and display schedules throughout the season. It’s a simple tool, making the sport feel similar to the intramural student-athletes.
Positive feedback has spread across the nation about the app, as it has gained support from other large institutions such as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Baylor University. Similar sentiments are being expressed at UW.
“It definitely took a minute to figure out, but I use the app and it seems a lot more organized than the old system,” Navarro said. “So, I’m pretty happy with it.”
Navarro is an experienced intramural participant at UW. Here in Madison, Navarro has been a part of intramurals for the first two years of school, and plans to continue to play throughout his junior year. He’s played in basketball, volleyball and soccer in his first two years enrolled as a Badger.
Navarro has taken advantage of the multiple chances the Recreation & Wellbeing program has offered at UW, using his experience as a break from the academic wear-and-tear of college student life.
“I think it’s a great way to get a good group of friends together, and you just go out and have fun,” Navarro said. “Sports have always been my escape, and I think this is the perfect opportunity to be able to play some competitive games at an organized level with refs and all of that, without too much stress or anything around that. It’s a good academic escape.”
While Navarro has been involved in intramurals for multiple years now, it started in the fall of his freshman year. Sophomore Ryan Kwon had a similar experience, as he discovered his love for intramurals in the fall 0f 2022.
Kwon gathered a group of freshmen as a new student at UW, and played in a two-month season of volleyball.
“When I came to Wisconsin, I knew I always wanted to get involved with it, whether it was club sports or intramural sports,” Kwon said. “So, when I didn’t make the team for club volleyball, I gathered a group of guys who also played volleyball and from there we just found the [intramural] league.”
Kwon created college memories on the court in a fun, low-commitment league. While summarizing their eventful year, he recalled a major comeback during one of their matches as his favorite moment of the season.
Playing once a week, sometimes even twice, Kwon developed new friendships with his peers and found the ability to be active in the middle of a stressful school schedule.
“Some of the guys that I played with are some of my best friends on campus,” Kwon said. “So I’ve definitely created a bond with them. It’s all really fun, and I’ve always loved playing volleyball.”
In addition to the memories, bonds and distraction from academic life, the competition level throughout the leagues is noteworthy.
Many high school athletes come to college and are left with just academics after being used to participating in one or multiple sports previously, such as Navarro and Kwon. Recreation & Wellbeing’s intramural program allows students to fulfill that lasting competitive drive.
“It gets intense, which is something that I appreciate,” Navarro said about the gameplay. “I like how they have an A and B league for most sports. You can kind of feel out where you’re at and join the appropriate league. If you want to play in the A league, it’s pretty competitive.”
As new friendships evolve and students return to their competitiveness, the intramural league will continue to grow at UW, including the sports it offers this fall.
