Take advantage of intramural sports at UC Davis

Reduced anxiety and new friendships are some of the advantages to getting active

BY AUDREY BOYCE afboyce@ucdavis.edu

Finally, superhero movies are doing something right

BY MAYA KORNYEYEVA mkornyeyeva@ucdavis.edu

It is no secret that college provides a lot of new stressors for students. Living away from home for the first time, navigating new social situations and an uptick in academic responsibilities are all possible reasons why anxiety rates among college students are so high. At UC Davis, 40.7% of undergraduate students reported feelings of anxiety.

Although I am an advocate of seeking therapy or professional help if you are feeling high levels of anxiety, exercise can be one of the easiest ways to help improve mental health. It produces endorphins that assist our ability to sleep, helps to stabilize our mood, decreases tension and increases self-esteem.

I am part of the significant minority of students at UC Davis who experience anxiety, and for a large portion of my first year at college, I had no outlet to deal with it. That was until I got a text message from a friend asking my roommates and me to join his intramural soccer team. I reluctantly agreed, worried I would be judged since I had not played soccer in five years.

To my surprise, although the game was set up in a professional manner, with referees enforcing typical soccer rules, the environment felt relaxed, enjoyable and easy-going. Players could either take it seriously or just play for fun. The rec team provided me with an outlet for my anxiety every Sunday evening and even inspired me to begin exercising more regularly to stay in shape for games.

There are two ways to get involved in intramural sports at UC Davis. The first is to find a group of friends or peers who are interested and register as a team for a league of choice. However, if you do not know people who would be interested in joining an intramural team, there are teams called “free agent teams.” You can request to join these and meet a new group of people to play a sport with. Both ways require purchasing a “Rec Sports One Pass” for $20. For first years, residence halls provide promotional codes that make this pass free.

Intramural sports also provide opportunities for those who did not get the opportunity to play a sport growing up. While many high school teams require a certain level of skill, these teams simply require that you desire to play. From my experience playing soccer, while the league only coordinates games, many teams take advantage of Dairy Field to host practices, which allows less experienced players to improve their skills.

In addition to helping me deal with anxiety, the people I met on the soccer team became the friend group I have to this day. One of the biggest challenges I had with the large student population at UC Davis is that finding a group of friends felt impossible, especially amid COVID-19 restrictions that greatly impacted social interactions earlier on in my time at Davis.

From my experience, most people find their group of friends on their residence hall floor, so when that did not work out for me, I had no hope of a “college group of friends” until I joined my soccer team. Soccer games led to team dinners which led to almostdaily get-togethers, eventually creating a tight-knit friend group.

Any student who is physically capable should take this opportunity to relieve stress, find or improve on a sport of interest or create new connections. It really is a unique opportunity that may be more challenging to find later in life.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

MAYA KORNYEYEVA / AGGIE

Earlier in the year, I wrote a column about my disappointment with the recent trend in the quality of movies produced by Marvel — every new movie seemed to lack the stunning energy and intrigue present in their earlier films.

Well, I would like to formally revise my previous statement to say that the newest Marvel movie — “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” — and another recently released and highlyanticipated superhero movie — “SpiderMan: Across the Spider-Verse” — are exceptional new additions to a long list of superhero movies. Both have outstanding storylines, rich and dynamic dialogue and a plethora of moments that made me pause and connect with my own thoughts and emotions.

First on the table, we have the third and final installment of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” series. This movie centers around an intergalactic superhero team, also known as The Guardians, working together to save their partner Rocket Raccoon, who is severely injured at the beginning of the film and whose memories and backstory appear intermittently throughout the rest of the movie, giving viewers a look into his disturbing past.

Walking into the film, I knew almost immediately that I had sat down to witness something truly special. The dark, recherché atmosphere of the opening scene, coupled with the beautifully animated mix of fear and curiosity captured in the young Rocket Raccoon as he is selected for experimentation by the “hand of God,” was indicative of well-developed scene symbolism that was echoed throughout the entire film. The smooth transition from Rocket’s young, unmodified self to his present body was carefully and creatively animated and set the bar for overall computer-generated imagery (CGI) quality. As the movie progressed, several strong motifs were revealed in the two parallel stories of Rocket’s past and the Guardians’ efforts to go to any lengths to ensure the survival of their friend. The first was the cruelty of experimentation performed on animals for the “development of a perfect species,” and the raw emotions that come with healing from trauma and making friends. The second was the love for family: the bonding and acceptance of individuals for who they really are, not who they were created to be. Aside from deep messages, “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” contained wonderfully light humor as well as the successful introduction of new characters into the MCU that tied loose ends and created novel story arcs as bridges between the cinematic universe and the comic books. I particularly enjoyed the way the plot and central conflict differed from previous films, as well as the fitting soundtrack that featured various genres and styles of music that have me listening on repeat.

The perfect time is never coming

Stop waiting for timing that doesn’t exist

BY YASMEEN O’BRIEN yjobrien@ucdavis.edu

When I was in fourth grade, my dad got me a brand new pair of PF Flyers. They were the most pristine thing I had ever seen. They were the classics: all black with the logo in green, just like the ones Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez wore in “The Sandlot.” After staring at them for a bit, I put the shoes back in the box.

Most days after school, I would open up this box and look at them — making sure they were still there, still pristine, still Benny-like, still mine. I had begged my dad for a year to buy them for me before he finally caved, and yet all I did was stare at them. I would imagine myself wearing them on the playground and how cool I’d feel and how many compliments I’d get.

But every morning that I got ready for school felt too ordinary. And these were no ordinary shoes. I was waiting for the right time to wear them to the right place with the right outfit. To make a long story short, these perfect conditions never happened. They never existed. I made them up because I was scared of ruining them — or maybe ruining the idea of them in my head.

I grew out of them before I ever wore them and, boy, do I wish I had. I wish I could say they had been worn, loved and used, like they were supposed to. But all I can say is that they were loved.

Sometimes when we love something so much, we don’t know what to do with that love. We don’t always know how to act on it and really experience it. I believe this is similar to the way we treat our hopes and dreams. We have all these things we want to experience or accomplish, but we sabotage ourselves with this false notion of the “perfect time.” It’s an idea we create in our heads because we’re scared of failure or rejection.

Sitting around and waiting for the “perfect time” actually just wastes the time we do have. Perfection is silly. The beauty of humans is that we are imperfect. We have flaws and sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but at least we try. Things are never going to be perfect, because that’s not how life works. Life is messy and wild and nonlinear, so there’s no point in waiting. Really, there’s no time to.

Want to travel the world? Start saving up, researching and making plans. Want to write a story? Write it now. Pick up a pen and paper or start typing. Want to apply for that big job? Go for it. You might be surprised by the fruit that is borne simply from your effort and attention. Don’t waste your time waiting.

There is no time like the present to do the things you want to do. Taking big leaps is always going to be scary, but that’s the beauty of it. There is strength in overcoming that fear. Take a chance on yourself, you’ll probably find that you’re stronger and wiser than you think.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.