Even though the intramural director left in March and a replacement was not named until September, the fall intramural season has gone off without a hitch, thanks to the efforts of three students.
It wasn't until Sept. 10 that Intramural and Facility Coordinator Diana Clauss was named to her position; before then, only Matthew Tsimikas, assistant athletic director of physical education, intramurals and club sports, supervised the intramurals.
Tsimikas' job, which includes supervising the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, leaves him little time for running the intramural program, according to Dave Reidy '06, a student coordinator. The previous intramural director, Jay Veilleux, resigned to take a position in Yarmouth, Maine, leaving only Tsimikas to finish the spring season and organize the fall season.
So in the intervening months until Clauss arrived on campus, students ran the intramural program. Unlike at other larger schools where graduates will be assistants for the undergraduate intramural department, Brown has no graduate assistants to help out.
"A lot of what Peter Cirincione ('06), GJ King ('05) and I do is what grad assistants do at other schools," said Dave Reidy '06, a student coordinator. "We don't have extensive training, and we just do the best we can."
"The end of last year was okay, because the sports had already started, but the beginning of this year was very tough," Reidy said. "We had to collect ourselves and put everything together on our own. There was really nothing in motion."
Luckily for the students who participate in intramurals, the student leaders were able to organize the season. Their responsibilities included deciding dates for the start of the season, setting registration deadlines and stuffing mailboxes. Without a full-time coordinator, the students had to field e-mails and calls from team captains hoping to reschedule game times. The student organizers also had to work around construction to the intramural field behind the OMAC, where Fieldturf is being installed. Without the field and with inconvenient times available on the OMAC roof, Reidy and his co-organizers had to move soccer games to Pembroke Field. The coordinators also had to find and train referees for the games.
"A really important part is the organization of the refs, because without them, the games wouldn't happen," said Nolan Shutler '06, a new coordinator this semester, who started as a referee.
With the addition of Clauss as the new coordinator, the students' roles remain integral to the program. In addition to needing help during the transition period, Clauss has established a new hierarchy within the administration. By giving more work to an expanded student staff, Clauss can focus on the larger goals of intramurals.
"We feel like there are many Brown kids that could participate, but not that many students participate as we would like, so we would like to increase the number of sports offered, increase the number of teams, increase number of participants," Reidy said. "We want to offer new, different kinds of thing" - like a dodgeball tournament.
