Priorities

The benefits of an intramural program are many. However, in the intramural community, it is impossible to satisfy as many participants as possible. It cannot be all things to all people. Nor can one program do everything. It must have priorities and focus. The best way to facilitate the priorities is making a mission for the community. Because for the leaders of the community, without the focus, they perhaps could somehow get somewhere, but neither they nor the community members will know how to get there again.

The mission statement tells what our community wants its intramural program to be and provides direction. The first thing we need to decide for our mission is to define a central theme that explains what our intramural programs are and how they can be great benefits for the members. We will try our best to make the mission realistic and incorporate fun and interesting activities.

The next step is to get others’ input. We will ask fro ideas from all program staff and participants, including coaches, referees, officials, volunteers, supervisors, and students. It’s also a good idea to look at other institutions’ intramural missions and priorities. We will make sure our priorities reflect the common intentions of everyone involved in the program, which require us to take the time to understand everyone’s thoughts, goals, and plans for the program.

Another important action that needs to be taken for the healthy development of our intramural programs is saving costs. Charging enrolment fees for exciting events or activities might be a good idea since the participants are usually willing to pay a fair price to take part. Also, shopping for the lowest price is also a good idea, but saving on expense should never threaten the safety of participants. There is other ways t save money too. These involve on-campus partnership with various departments such as art, graphic design, marketing, and off-campus partnership with organizations and companies.

Finally, as with any plan, the priorities should be evaluated from time to time and adjusted as necessary, either to improve the message or to reflect more closely the purpose and values of the program.

My Community - Intramural Sports

As an official coordinator of University of Calgary intramural sports, I supervise and organize intramural volleyball, basketball and ball hockey teams. Intramurals division provides a great platform for students to participate in various sports, and also it let people play at a more competitive level than a pick-up game without the pressure or work of more organized sport. My goal for the job is to oversee and manage a safe and pleasant atmosphere for intramural participants by enforcing all intramural sports policies and procedures. I try to provide all participants with exceptional service through displaying a strong knowledge of the intramural sport rules and policies, excellence in professionalism, maintaining a positive attitude, and always communicating in a courteous consistent manner.

Intramural program is a great way to keep students physically active and lower the chance of obesity. However, there are several issues that could adversely affect it. For example, many teachers and coaches have little support of a viable intramural. The number of teachers who are involved in intramural activities has been dropping over the years. Also, problems in securing have become overwhelming. The number of demands on existing space, combined with legal and liability issues, have made the gym time for intramural sports difficult to reserve. As a society, we appear to be at the two extremes of athletic participation. The youngsters are either playing on numerous competitive sport teams, or they are physically doing as little as possible away from the television or computer. On top of all those, schools usually charge a participation fees for playing in the intramural programs. Some schools’ fees are pretty high and it has become one of the reason that keep students from joining the program.

I believe that all students should have the opportunity to participate in school-sponsored activities at some level. There is a definite need for intramural sports, for social as well as physical reasons. As a society we need to value the importance of physical activity and promote healthy social activities for our youth.