By Michael Evanko
Jambar Contributor
Sports are more than just winning or losing, being the best or the worst. Sports are meant to bring people together to participate in the games they are interested in, and at Youngstown State University there’s no exception.
YSU offers a way for former athletes or causal participants to stay involved in competitive sports.
YSU Intramural sports run all year at YSU. This past season, they offered sports such as arena football, badminton, basketball, billiards, bowling, flag football, kickball, ping pong, soccer, volleyball and for the students who don’t partake in the traditional sports field, esports is now available.
Joe Conroy, the intramural sports coordinator at YSU and Vinny Direnzo, intramural student referee, said they are both pleased with the amount of sports YSU offers each semester.
“Every semester we advertise about 12 sports that student can participate in,” Conroy said. “Some are weekly leagues and some are one-day tournament events.”
Direnzo brought up the diversity of YSU’s intramural offerings.
“YSU Intramurals offers a good amount of sports that are open to all students,” Direnzo said.
Conroy said he loves the atmosphere and competitiveness of the students that participate in the various tournaments.
“Intramurals are always a competitive atmosphere, and we take a photo that will place all the champions in our historical photo archives,” he said.
YSU just hosted a 3-on-3 double elimination tournament basketball tournament on April 16. Anything inside the three-point line was two points and anything beyond the arc was three points with two free throws after a shooting foul. The first one to 21 points or the team winning after the 10-minute clock hit zero was the winner.
In the tournament, team Senders not Pretenders swept the winners bracket on their way to the championship while Swole Team 6 had to battle in the losers bracket after losing to aforementioned Senders not Pretenders.
In the losers bracket final round, Swole Team 6 defeated team YSU 22-15, advancing them to the championship. In game one of the championship, Swole Team 6 stole a game 17-16, in a must win game for Swole Team 6, Senders not Pretenders got back to their winning ways taking game two 22-17, giving them the title as champions.
No person should have to give up their passion because there isn’t a competitive space to play in. Conroy is happy to supply a space in which competitiveness is welcome
“We run all our intramural events for non-scholarship students,” Conroy said. “A lot of students still love to compete in activities that they participated in while in high school and like to be active.”
Gino Rozzi, a senior engineering student, has played basketball since high school. He said he played in the 3-on-3 tournament last semester and really enjoyed it.
“Being able to play basketball at a competitive level is something I’ve searched for but could not find anywhere else other than at YSU,” Rozzi said.
A two-on-two beach volleyball tournament will take place April 25 at 5 p.m. at Heritage Park on the sand court and is free to play.
Conroy said when asked why students should take part in these events. Every person who participates in the basketball tournament will receive a free T-shirt.
To sign up for an intramural sport, go to IMLeagues.com and sign up with a YSU email address. This gives access to all leagues and tournaments that the university offers.