Get involved and meet others on campus through UREC
After the first day of classes ends on Aug. 28, first-year students might wonder, "Now what?"
With just under 400 student organizations to join, hundreds of students gravitate towards intramural and club sports to fill their free time.
IM Sports offers a wide variety of individual and team sports for students to participate in. Available leagues range from soccer and flag football to bowling and table tennis.
Scott George, assistant director of competitive sports at University Recreation, said IM Sports is a great way to "set yourself up for success."
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“Being involved on campus is important,” George said. “It’s something that I look back on during my time at CMU. After I got done, when I was looking for jobs, I think that my involvements and experiences were what potential employers looked at more so than things that I learned in class.”
Chesterfield junior Stedman Taylor said joining a team is a great way to get acclimated to campus.
“I think it’s very important to get involved,” Taylor said. “You meet a lot of cool people. You get to compete against others, which is always great because everyone wants to be competitive.”
Taylor has played volleyball, 3v3 and 5v5 basketball and flag football.
The most popular sports are flag football, basketball and volleyball, but there is always competition within IM Sports. George said the bowling league has grown substantially in the past few years, as well as some new leagues like Fantasy Football and e-Gaming.
The first step to join a team is making an account on imleagues.com/cmich. From the website, students can join and create teams, look at schedules, communicate with teammates and view brackets. The next step is to find a team, decide who will serve as captain and put together the team through IM Leagues.
Many residence halls create IM teams to help create a community feeling in the dorms. George said this is a great way to try out IM Sports and find teammates to play with until graduation.
The reward for becoming the league's best is the coveted IM Sports Champion T-shirt. While a T-shirt might not seem appealing to some, Taylor explained why the shirt is so coveted.
“Mark my words, I have been putting in the work and I am going to be a champion this year,” Taylor said. “You really want that T-shirt because it gives you respect. You get the recognition and I can’t explain what it would mean to me if I were to win a championship. I would go crazy and celebrate like they do in the NBA of NFL.”
A team photo is also placed in the final edition of Central Michigan Life each semester and on the Championship Board at the Student Activity Center, with every championship team dating back to 2008.
