The Washington University Intramural Sports Department kicks off the spring semester with a change. All team registration will be handled through a new online format at imleagues.com. The Web site enables administrators to do scheduling online and provides new opportunities for IM athletes.

Athletic administrators said that the new electronic system on imleagues.com makes it easier than the old manual program to ensure that IM competitions do not occur at problematic times or during important campus-wide events. Additionally, students hoping to use athletic facilities for personal workout can use imleagues.com to see which are reserved at what time for intramurals.

Imleagues.com, a free Web site, is currently in use by the intramural departments of 63 other schools, including DePaul University, Columbia University and Xavier University. Students create a user account with an e-mail and password, and administrators stress that using a Wash. U. e-mail account will assist in immediately directing the user to the Wash. U. page.

“A lot of programs all across the country have gone to online registration,” Director of Intramural and Club Sports Sean Curtis said. “We have been looking at [online options] for a long time. It was a matter of finding a program that we felt fit our situation the best that could help us with our registration process and help our participants to register to play, and that’s probably the biggest reason that we did it.”

Curtis also explained that imleagues.com allowed the department to more easily create schedules and special events, while maintaining aspects of scheduling students were pleased with.

“Imleagues themselves were willing to work with us so our sports still resemble very strongly what we had before…We didn’t want to completely change,” Curtis said. “We know that the participants get used to our schedule being the same year in and year out, and [Imleagues] were allowing us to do that without changing a bunch of things…I think that was the key, their flexibility.”

According to Kari Osborne, assistant director for intramural sports, once students have created a user account on imleagues.com, they can accept invitations from team captains to join their roster. Students wanting to participate in an IM sport without a team can communicate directly with captains about joining. Additionally, imleagues.com provides customizable team pages and message boards for intra-team communication.

“Through [the account] with each sport, you’ll have to accept invitations from team captains to be on their team to actually be on their roster,” Osborne said. “That’s a big difference [from] just a captain filling out the form and turning it in.”

Junior Erin Meyer, president of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, winner of the IM cup for the past three years, hopes that online registration will increase participation.

“This is a great way for people who aren’t always around to get involved,” Meyer said. “It also makes the job of our IM chairs easier.”

The online registration system provides new conveniences for graduate students who choose to participate in IM programs.

“It was a very good option for us…We wanted something where students could use online registration, because that’s our biggest complaint, especially from students who aren’t on the Danforth campus­­—med students, PT students,” Osborne said. “They’ve always wanted to be able to submit them without coming into the office.”

Students returning to campus will receive a flyer in campus mail regarding registration deadlines and procedures for the semester.

“I actually think it should be a lot more convenient than having to walk all the way to the AC to turn the forms in,” senior Dominique Shipley said. “I wish they’d done this a long time ago.”