The University of Indianapolis’ intramural sports program has picked up its season for the school year with leadership overturn as well as new additions to the program. According to the new Intramurals Coordinator Marcel Atisso, flag football has been recently added to the program along with an increase in signups from last school year.
Intramurals began last Monday for volleyball, basketball and soccer with flag football beginning earlier this month according to Atisso. Volleyball in particular, according to Atisso, has seen a spike in numbers.
“We have a lot of signups this year, more than we’ve had, especially for volleyball,” Atisso said. “Last year, I think in the spring, we had around eight teams for volleyball, maybe six, and this year, we already have 15 signed up. So really a big jump there, which is good, as many people as we can get out to any of the sports is great. But yeah, those are the biggest things we’ve been working on so far.”
Social Media Coordinator for intramurals Emma Beasley said for marketing and campus outreach, that posting more on the intramurals Instagram page is part of the response to the increase in interest for the program. Beasley said incorporating videography into the program’s online presence as well as thinking about posting on Instagram Reels are what intramurals is looking at to boost campus awareness.
“A lot of our marketing has been with our Instagram page as well as word of mouth,” Beasley said. “So I go around talking to classmates and former athletes I know that didn’t play in college but are wanting to still be in a team based environment, to come out to intramurals.”
According to Atisso, last year the program had around 170 people participate across all sports offered at the time and now this semester around 215 people have signed up. In terms of expansion, Atisso said that the program is looking into adjusting times available for tournaments for next semester but that currently games are 7 – 9 p.m. every night except for Fridays.
“For expansion, we’re [looking to] adjust times, probably next semester, if we get more people than what we have right now,” Atisso said. “And then we’re going to have to find another court space because for example, volleyball, we’re only using Ruth Lilly instead of Nicoson because we don’t have enough poles for that … Also with staff, there’s only a certain number of people that can work each night. So that’s another thing, but we’re happy that there’s more people coming on, we’re gonna figure out a way to make sure that everyone’s able to play and that everyone’s able to have fun and because that’s really what it’s all about.”
Beasley said that Mondays and Thursdays volleyball is held at the Ruth Lilly Fitness Center. On Tuesdays, soccer will be at Key Stadium and flag football will be at the lacrosse practice field. Basketball is then held on Wednesdays at the Ruth Lilly Fitness Center.
