The Joy of Intramural Sports by Ethan Chan

 By Ethan Chan

With the ongoing chaos from Covid, many seniors have had their senior sports seasons stolen from them in a bad stroke of luck. On the bright side, this led to the creation of an intramural co-ed sports league that recorded participation from 279 students across both middle and high school. While it may not be the competitive interscholastic environment many varsity players might have been hoping for, the league presents its own relative benefits.

Currently supporting two sports, soccer and volleyball, the league shows great representation of a wide variety of skill levels. We have players taken straight from the varsity teams, but the majority of players in the league have little to no experience with their respective sport. To some, this intramural experience is serving as an introduction to a sport they might have wanted to play, but never had the chance to. In addition, the league also has the added virtue of being inconsequential, which makes for intense gameplay but without the pressure to perform well that is often seen at the interscholastic level. This makes the games far more enjoyable.

So far, my experience playing intramural soccer has been filled with pure, uninhibited, lighthearted enjoyment. If it weren’t for the horde of mosquitoes prowling around upper field, I might even call it perfect.

Bennett McIver (10) said, “it’s great to have something fun to do after school.” 

Zoe Seeveratnam (12) commented, “I look forward to intramurals because it gives me a great opportunity to get to know others outside my grade.”

The league isn’t even halfway to completion, yet it goes without saying that we are excited to see how the remainder of the season plays out. Looking towards the future, I personally wish to see the continuation of intramural sports at Dalat. While this may prove difficult after restrictions are removed on interscholastic sports, due to more regular usage of Dalat’s sports facilities, I think it’s been immensely valuable to many of our students and would continue to be in years to come.