College sports have a significant presence in keeping Cabrini students active throughout their college years. However, not every student wants to be a part of a varsity team on campus. Some students prefer to go to the Dixon Center and work out while others might have the desire to be a part of the team, but are less interested in the stress that comes with playing for the college. For others, the schedule might conflict with their classes, work and general daily life. But for those who are interested in being active and participating in a team environment, there are options like intramural and club sports.
An intramural sport is an informal and casual way to participate in team sports, while also offering a wide variety of sports to choose from. At Carnegie Mellon University, one of their intramural sports is Quidditch, the sport from Harry Potter, which showcases the diversity that having intramural sports can provide.
From Cabrinirec.com
“[Intramurals is] All playing with other students on campus, with Cabrini students against Cabrini students, it’s all student led. There’s no expectations of practices it’s usually more tournaments or short, maybe 4-6 week leagues, where you’re just playing with your friends. It can be competitive so it could be just show up and have fun or it could be a little more competitive where you’ve had experience,” Orlin Jesperson, associate director of athletics, recreation, and community engagement, said.
Club sports are another option that colleges and universities provide a bit more competitive and formal college sports experience. These usually require tryouts as well as having an official coach and typically travel around to play against other colleges. Cabrini has a club lacrosse team that is fairly popular and has been an active part of Cabrini athletics culture for over 10 years. Other major club sports that Cabrini offers include dance, cheer leading, roller hockey, rugby and others.
“The reason I signed up for the rugby team was I wanted to play for a sport while in college with my friends but with classes and work I couldn’t really balance a regular sport with work and classes. It was too difficult to do but the club rugby team let me and my friends hang out and play together which was dope,” Zach Debow, an Cabrini junior, said.
There are a lot of things that can factor into whether or not someone may want to take part in an intramural or club sport, if a student can’t make the team’s schedule fit with theirs or if they want a more relaxed program to participate in.
“You have kind of a two-prong, and this goes for both intramurals and club sports. On the one end, you have people who are or have played competitively and want to continue playing competitively but either we don’t offer a varsity team, [like] roller hockey or rugby. Or they want to play comp but either aren’t on the varsity team for one reason or another, whether it’s their choice because of time commitment or level of play. There’s a number of different factors, but it’s a chance for those who’ve played competitively to keep playing competitively and represent Cabrini against other colleges,” Jesperson said.
For those interested in partaking in intramurals or club sports, visit Cabrinirec.com and follow the intramural tab to register. For those interested in assisting Jesperson with the organizing of intramural and club tournaments, he can be contacted at ojj722@cabrini.edu
