With the Southland Conference recently announcing that all fall sports are postponed, the hope for any sort of sports at Sam Houston State University this semester seems bleak. However, Intramural Sports got to work and has put together an assorted lineup of activities for students to enjoy on campus.
Although there are a number of sports and activities for students to participate in, many traditional competitions have been either altered or completely discarded. The sports that would normally have leagues— such as flag football, volleyball and soccer— will no longer be running this semester.
Changes have been made in an attempt to keep activities safer for participants. Instead of traditional soccer or basketball leagues, there will be a three-point contest for basketball and a knockout style soccer competition.
A number of other popular competitions have been added as well.
Cornhole and capture the flag leagues have been created to replace traditional leagues as these sports help better maintain social distancing guidelines while also keeping the competitive spirit alive.
There are still plenty of sports that have been available in the past, such as tennis, billiards, bowling and a home run derby.
Outside of physical sports, there are various esports leagues that will be running this fall as well. Games such as Mario Kart, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Madden have leagues that students can join and participate in throughout the semester. There will also be a fantasy football league that runs throughout the NFL season.
With the changes of each sport and activity, there are also new protocols for joining and taking part in these events.
When checking into events, a person must show their virtual ID card from the SHSU website. Additionally, players cannot be added to teams on site. If a player is to be added to a team, the captain must update the roster ahead of time for that person to be eligible, Intramural and Club Sports Coordinator Jake Walker said in an email to students.
Sign-up for all events will be limited and players must be preregistered in order to participate.
This semester is going to be different than any that has come before. Even with all that is going on, Intramural Sports is still working to provide ways to keep programs available to students.
