Major
Nursing
Advisor
Butler, Sean
Date
5-2020
Keywords
Intramural Sports; Socialization; Belonging
Abstract
Intramural Sports is a great pastime for college students across the country. It gives college students an opportunity to stay active and socialize with peers in a healthy way. Some first- year students come to college after active athletic participation in high school. Intramural Sports gives students the opportunity to continue being involved in a sport they are passionate about while increasing their sense of belonging with their university. The University of Rhode Island (URI) runs a very successful Intramural Sports program in which over 2,200 students participate. Participants range from first year students to graduate students and even faculty at the university. Sports offered include flag football, soccer, basketball, sand volleyball, cornhole, badminton and many more. I have been involved in URI’s program firsthand by participating in the sports and helping to facilitate scheduled offerings. In these experiences, it was evident how positively Intramural Sports was impacting the participants. As a result, I wanted to find out exactly what student participants at URI were taking away from the program. I conducted participant surveys that gave me direct insight into the benefits and challenges of existing programming. I am using this feedback to help URI staff learn how we can improve the program and to expand our offerings based on student interest.