While the WSU Vancouver commuter campus might be convenient for VanCougs, there is an apparent shortfall for those craving sports-related activities which are prevalent in traditional universities. Aiming to increase more student participation on campus, WSU Vancouver’s Office of Student Involvement is in the process of building an outlet for athletes and sports enthusiasts alike through its flourishing intramural program.
Although WSU Pullman, the main branch of the university, gets more attention in the big leagues, WSU Vancouver is promoting sports events through its campus intramurals, which currently provide games such as soccer, volleyball, basketball and ultimate frisbee. Yuness Badiei, an assistant of OSI, says that open play basketball and open play volleyball nights are consistently growing in popularity.
“We’ve been having really good turnouts – up to 20-plus people for volleyball and basketball events,” Badiei stated.
Due to WSU Vancouver’s lack of athletic facilities on campus grounds, OSI’s Recreation Coordinator Cambri Shanahan, explains finding affordable and maintainable spaces is a difficult obstacle for campus sports. On top of that, the intramural program has faced a lack of access to off-campus gyms due to COVID-19, however, Pleasant Valley Middle School, located in Battle Ground, is currently hosting WSU Vancouver students in their newly renovated gym.
“I think the challenging part for intramurals is that we don’t have a gym on campus, there’s no space that we can really do our own on-campus intramurals,” Shanahan said. “We also have that huge field out there. We used to have soccer and flag football there, but the field is really hard to maintain.”
“The open space is good. People have a great advantage when they bring people with them, and everybody has good chemistry when they play together.”- Eric Marquez
Freshman at WSU Vancouver and playmaker Eric Marquez says the competition and sportsmanship are what keep him coming back to Thursday night basketball.
“The open space is good. People have a great advantage when they bring people with them, and everybody has good chemistry when they play together,” Marquez said.
In terms of student competition, Shanahan is not intimidated by the absence of facilities. She has aspirations to add esports to the docket of future intramurals, which are competitive gaming leagues. Additionally, she hopes to incorporate competitive league play, another style of sport that is an organized competition of teams playing against each other from different universities. However, undertaking such a large expansion of intramural sports is no small feat, and the difficulty now is figuring out where to start.
“Well, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Do we get the professional staff first? Or do we build the program first? We do have some clubs on campus that are doing esports stuff, but we want to make it more of a program,” Shanahan explained.
For the time being, intramurals offer no shortage of events that students can participate in. Shanahan recommends checking out OSI’s website and social media, @wsuvosi, for updates on open play events occurring this semester and in the future.
Andrew is a junior studying English and Digital Technology and Culture at WSU Vancouver.