A newcomer’s guide to IM sports at CSU

to people looking to get into IM leagues.

“I would just say give it a shot,” Cook said. “Just try a whole bunch of different things out and see what you like, and, you know, there was a few that I didn’t really like as much, but it was still fun to do it because I had fun with friends, and that’s the ultimate goal is just go out and have some fun while you’re in college.” is changes by semester and even in the summer, when IMs still run. Rinella, who has participated in both the regular semester IM season and in the summer, said there was a big difference.

Although IMs cater to a large and diverse group of people, they don’t come without challenges. Scheduling can be a conflict, although for the most part, Cook has found it to be accommodating.

By Damon Cook @dwcook2001

Intramural Sports are a big part of campus life at Colorado State University. Campus Recreation lists 39 different sports that are typically offered at some point during the year, ranging from five-on-five basketball leagues to things like fantasy football.

Jamar Cook, a senior at CSU, has been doing IM leagues since he was a first-year. One of the things he is glad that he did was participating in everything he could.

“I came into college not really knowing much about it, not knowing if I’d be willing to try,” Cook said. “Fast forwarding in time, I’m actually just really glad that I did it — like bowling, softball, basketball, flag football — just all these different things that I kind of knew about but never saw myself doing, and I’ve never had more fun in my life in doing all of these different intramurals.”

Cook reiterated the same statement when talking about advice he would give

Friends and community are big themes in the IM space. Kyle Kinney, the assistant director of Intramural Sports, said that was a big part of his experience when he was a student.

“As a student, intramurals was where I really found a community and a connection to campus, even though I was bad at most sports,” Kinney said.

Matthew Rinella, who graduated in December 2022 with a degree in business finance and management, said IMs provided him with a sense of community, including people he may have not otherwise met.

“I would say it’s people I wouldn’t usually see,” Rinella said. “A lot of these people are excited about IMs. ... It really just kind of almost puts you into, like, a different pool of different people.”

“We’d all just come together, bring our schedules together and just kind of decide what day we want to do,” Cook said. “ en the IM league will have their options listed (for game times), and we all just choose one — and then what the IM leagues will do is throw another league in our same division (into that game time), and then that’s kind of just when we have our game days.”

Scheduling is a big aspect of IMs, including on the operations side. Kinney said one of their biggest challenges was adapting to the ever-changing students and their needs.

“We try really hard to try new sports with different levels of commitment and competition so that intramurals can be as accessible as possible to everyone,” Kinney said. “ is year we are offering a one-day tournament every ursday, with more options for recreational play and students learning new sports.”

“It seems like it’s a lot more relaxed (in the summer),” Rinella said. “ ere’s less people around, I think they’re pretty casual with what you can do and it seems like it’s a little more fun because everyone’s kind of hanging out a little bit.”

An IM membership is currently $10 a semester. is can be purchased inside the Student Recreation Center with a credit card, debit card or RamCash. Once you purchase that membership, you’re free to partake in as many sports as you want.

“ e pass gets you access to everything offered, so you could hypothetically be playing on two in four weeks at once and a weekly tournament throughout the whole semester,” Kinney said.

Read the full version of this story at collegian.com.

Reach Damon Cook at sports @collegian.com.