The point league trophy is the most coveted championship in all of intramural sports. The point league games are always intense and competitive as entire fraternities often file in to watch the games. The flag football sidelines are packed during the playoffs and captains devote their time to making their fraternity’s team the best in Greek Life. However, a careful look into the system will quickly reveal that there is a lot more to winning the IM cup than having the most athletic or talented fraternity. Certainly, you need the athletes, but perhaps what you need more is a motivated intramural chair.
To many fraternities, the IM cup is only comprised of football, basketball, softball, volleyball and soccer. However, in order to finish with the most overall points, the key is to convince enough people in the house to participate in the smaller and more obscure events. These events include a 9 a.m. cross country meet, badminton, arm wrestling (where, among other stipulations, your frat has to find two guys under 135 pounds willing to arm wrestle), billiards, track and field and bowling.
It is the lack of participation in these events that often makes the IM cup a one- or two-team race every year. Therefore, it is up to the person in each house in charge of intramurals to convince brothers to show up for these smaller, less glamorous events in order to keep pace with the other fraternities in the chase for the coveted IM cup. Furthermore, a responsible person must be aware of all the registration deadlines and make sure to file all the paperwork on time.
Another essential component that most fraternities do not take advantage of is officiating. For football, basketball and a combination of soccer and softball, each fraternity can earn up to 25 points by providing the league with brothers to officiate the various games and events. Each official in each sport will earn five points for their fraternity, almost equal to the wage they get paid for officiating, a grand total of $5.25 per hour. Without having any officials, a fraternity forfeits a potential 75 points, a value equal to the amount of points a fraternity would attain for coming in first place during the flag football regular season. Although it is difficult to find people at a $40,000 per year school willing to work for $5.25 per hour, this is essential to keeping up in the race for the IM championship.
A lesser known key to winning is making friends at the IM office. There are a lot of soft deadlines and bendable rules in intramurals, and without showing your face in that office and treating its employees like kings, those rules will never bend your way. Director of Intramurals Sean Curtis is the Pete Rozelle of intramural sports and in order to be able to compete, a standing relationship with the Al Gore look-alike is vital.
In short, the intramural points league comes down to three factors: desire, organization and athletic ability. First, the desire is needed to put forth all the effort and make a conscious effort to win. Then, institute a person who will get everyone organized and get everything done. Finally comes the athletic ability. A fraternity can’t win the games on the field if it doesn’t have the actual athletic talent. This recipe for success is not all-inclusive, but without those three things, a championship is impossible.
Scott Kaufman-Ross is Sigma Phi Epsilon’s co-Chair for Intramural Sports.