Part II
The Plan
To use a golf analogy, you cannot go from wanting to play directly to playing. You need to decide on such things as which course you’ll play, the equipment you’ll need, the people to play with, the rules you’ll use, and the amount of money you wish to spend. Intramural programs are no different.
Part II takes you through the planning stages of developing an intramural program. Planning involves understanding the facilities available for the program and how you wish to organize participants. It also involves acquiring competent and trained staff and leaders, both paid and volunteer. The role of officials is an important aspect of a competitive intramural program. Thus, hiring them, training them, and compensating them is an important part of the planning process. Policies need to be developed to ensure fair and safe play for all. Then decisions need to be made concerning how to effectively promote the intramural program. Finally, the intramural director needs to know ahead of time what the anticipated program costs and revenues are. All of these items must be in place before any effective intramural program can begin, and they are all discussed in part II.

3
The Structure
Motivation, focus, and mission in hand, you are now ready to begin structuring the intramural program. The first part of that process is considering what you have available in terms of facilities and other resources such as equipment. Then you must determine the structure that will best facilitate your intramural participants.
As discussed in the previous chapter, your mission should serve as a guide. For this part of the planning process, it is important to revisit your mission and determine how facilities, resources, and organization structure will best facilitate that mission. If, for example, the intramural program mission is to revitalize fun and active movement, as opposed to encouraging competition and athletic achievement, then such things as rules are designed to equalize competition as much as possible to encourage participation, joy, and fair play—not victory. Do not get locked into seeing basketball lines and basketballs as requiring official basketball rules. A basketball court can serve many purposes and even a basketball game can be played with rubber chickens instead of basketballs. Be creative.
Chapter Objectives
>	Assess available program resources.
>	Explore creative ways of maximizing program resources.
>	Consider various intramural structures.
Facilities
Obviously, for activities to be held, you will need a place to hold them. What may not always be obvious are your options. Most schools have a gymnasium, classrooms, and athletic fields, but what about stages, hallways, parking lots, or cafeterias? And what about facilities and resources beyond the confines of the school campus? Are there parks, hills, and forests nearby? What about gyms and other facilities in the community? To create a diverse and well-rounded intramural program, it is important that you, as an intramural director, be creative and resourceful in the early stages of developing your program by considering all facilities available to you.
Work With What You Have
On-campus facilities will likely be the most cost effective when you consider access to participants. If your resources and options are limited, in terms of options, proximity, and cost, do not lose heart. A gymnasium and a few playing fields can be enough for a great program. The important thing is to work with what you have and be positive and creative about it.
An intramural director for a small Ontario school bemoaned the fact that the school did not have a gym. But when asked what he did with students during the winter months, he excitedly reported that the winter activities included free skating and playing ice hockey on a nearby canal, and a winter carnival on the school soccer/football field and parking lot.
Recreational facilities vary by geographic region, topography, school size, and community economics, among other things. Indeed, intramural facilities range from no gym at all to large multisport complexes. Sizes range from small classrooms to double gyms. Even structures vary, ranging from new concrete or brick buildings to aging bubbles. Weight rooms are also disparate from institution to institution. Some schools have small and inadequately equipped or monitored weight rooms, while others have large, well-equipped weight rooms staffed by full-time fitness specialists. Large institutions have separate and well-designed weight rooms and aerobics studios, which appeal to the more self-conscious participants.
Whatever you have to work with, do not be discouraged. Instead, make the most of what you have at the present time and plan for the future. As part of planning your program, ask the question, Do existing intramural facilities need renovation or should new facilities be built? If your facilities are lacking, make improving your facilities a goal for your program. Then, after a few (or many, depending on the size of your goal) years of running a successful program, you may be able to renovate your existing facilities or build new facilities that will better suit your needs.
Use Alternative Spaces
As important as being positive and working with what you’ve got is being creative. Consider alternative in-school spaces beyond the gym. For example, some schools have a stage in the gym. Depending on its size, this stage can accommodate table tennis, foosball (table soccer), weight lifting, aerobics, wrestling, billiards, or quiet games such as euchre. Other parts of a school can also be used. Long hallways are ideal for shuffleboard, bowling, horseshoes, and floor hockey (if wide enough), as well as unusual events such as chair relay races. Classrooms lend themselves to quiet board games, instruction in yoga and aerobics, and so on.
Also consider outside school areas. Solid outside walls can be used for games such as handball and paddleball. Wooded campus areas with trails are great for orienteering, cross-country skiing, jogging, walking, paintball, and other outdoor activities. Parking lots make excellent surfaces for ball hockey and a host of other games played on asphalt. (For lots of asphalt game ideas, take a look at Pat Doyle’s Awesome Asphalt Activities [1998].)

Intramurals Without a Gymnasium
Fred Batley, the intramural director at Sir Sanford Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario, had the unenviable task of running an intramural program without a gymnasium. This presented several problems, the first of which was how he could organize leagues for volleyball, basketball, indoor soccer, or any other activity. Rather than get discouraged, he visited some nearby schools and found a gym he could rent in the evening.
Another problem presented by the lack of a gymnasium was visibility. Without a gym, which is normally the center of intramural activity and promotion, how would students know about the program? Where would staff be able to interact with students and recruit new participants? For this problem, Fred came up with several solutions. The first was to locate the intramural program offices in the school’s Student Life area, already a hub of student activity.
Fred’s second solution was hosting a weekly intramural event. Wild Wednesdays were held every Wednesday at noon in the main lobby, through which students passed on their way to the cafeteria. (This location was ideal because it assured a lot of passersby.) Every week, new events were held and many prizes given away. Events included such things as a basketball free-throw contest (using a portable basketball hoop), a putting contest (using a green piece of carpet), and a hackey sac dribbling contest.
The third solution for increasing visibility was to offer regular intramural field trips. Fred visited nearby facilities to check out their schedules and see what he could arrange. In only a few visits, he was able to arrange monthly trips to a local ski hill and trips to different bowling alleys (every Thursday night and Sunday morning).
Clearly, trying to operate an intramural program without a gymnasium can be challenging. As Fred demonstrated, however, a little creativity can go a long way in offering a terrific intramural program. Always consider your options and turn them into opportunities.

Work With Your Community
Once you’ve assessed your school’s facilities, it’s important to consider other available resources in your community. As Fred Batley learned (see “Intramurals Without a Gymnasium” on page 25), local resorts and bowling alleys may be willing to share their facilities (albeit usually at a cost). To create as broad and effective an intramural program as possible, consider what is available in your area. Swimming pools, fitness clubs and gyms, courts for racquet sports, ice arenas, golf courses—these and other facilities are there to be used. If the cost of such facilities is too high, work with the facility management or ownership to see if certain discounts are an option. For example, some facilities offer student discounts (students save on admission or playing fees when they show their student cards), facility-rental discounts (to support their local educational institutions), and bulk ticket discounts (the school purchases tickets in bulk at a reduced rate and passes those savings on to students). If discounted fees are still too high, consider using free facilities such as community parks for Frisbee golf and cross-country running or skiing.
Also consider whether local facilities permit the intramural activities you wish to offer. If your intramural program mission is primarily geared toward fun, for example, it will likely involve goofy games and odd twists to traditional sport rules. In this case, you’ll want to ask the facility if these variations are allowed. Take JJ Bowling (Byl 2002, p. 64), for instance, in which each frame is bowled differently. One frame the bowler bowls with her dominant hand, the next frame with her nondominant hand, the next frame with her left foot, and so on. This rule modification adds fun to the game, but bowling alley management may not permit such “improper” bowling decorum. Of course, if you rent the entire bowling alley, the management may be more amenable to new rules. You may even be able to offer more bowling variations, for example, glow-in-the-dark bowling. Be creative and work with local facilities to maximize the experience for your participants.
Size Up the Competition
When assessing the option of using community facilities, it is important to consider competition. If, for example, you want to offer weight-training and aerobics activities as part of your intramural programming and there are several nearby gyms that offer these same activities at an affordable cost to students, by including them in your intramural program you may be “reinventing the wheel.” Likewise, there may already be a great badminton club close to the school that students regularly attend. If this club meets the needs of your students, there is no reason to compete with it.
Of course, if some students’ needs are not being met, it may be wise to offer them an alternative through intramural programming. One such alternative is to offer a service that the badminton club does not. A second is to work with the badminton club to modify or add to its program so that it satisfies students’ needs.
As you start to plan your program by considering your available facilities, ask yourself, Is there competition for this type of intramural activity? What about the entire program? For some institutions, particularly those in well-developed communities, launching an intramural program might be difficult because it may be in direct competition with well-established programs and clubs outside the institution. The bottom line is this: An intramural program should benefit as many participants as possible. If helping local clubs is the best way to do that, then do it.
Equipment
It is every intramural director’s dream to have a large, well-stocked equipment room. Some live with that dream, but most have considerably  less. As with facilities, intramural directors and staff need to be resourceful with what equipment they have, alternate uses of equipment, and consider other accessible equipment within the community.
Work With What You Have
Intramural directors should not allow a lack of equipment to discourage them and, in so doing, undercut the objective of having fun. Celebrate what you have and make the most of it. A couple of bats, balls and bases, and you have a baseball game in the making. With a couple of soccer balls, and you have a couple of soccer games, a couple of basketballs and you have a couple of basketball games, and so on. It does not take nearly as much equipment to just play it as it does to teach these activities. Be resourceful in using what you have well.
Use Alternative Equipment
Be creative in adding more great equipment. If you have an old football, soccer ball, or volleyball with the cover half torn off, tear the whole cover off and save the bladder. The bladder will move erratically when throw or kicked, and is so light and soft that it will not injure anyone struck with it. Games of indoor soccer and indoor soccer-baseball are a riot with a bladder ball. Hula hoops are easily made from rubber piping purchased at the hardware store and beanbags are easily sewn together. All of these materials are inexpensive and add new and fun dimensions to an intramural program. Be creative in considering alternative equipment.
Work With Your Community
If you’re short on basic equipment, your community probably has equipment available that can easily be borrowed or rented at reduced rates. A lot of students bring some of their own equipment from home, such as basketballs, soccer balls, bats, baseballs, baseball gloves, and so on. A lot of games can be arranged using equipment that students bring. Sometimes schools can share equipment. One school might have a set of lacrosse sticks and another a set of field hockey sticks. While one school does field hockey, the other can do lacrosse. Then they can switch equipment and each school gets to offer a new program. Other equipment, especially outdoor recreational equipment, can be rented at reasonable group rates. Such equpment might include rental of bikes, skis, or canoes. Be resourceful within the community to access additional equipment.
Program Structure
Once you have taken an inventory of available resources and considered your alternatives, it’s time to think about how your intramural program will be structured. Like any organization, an intramural program needs some kind of structure to operate. Rather than the hierarchy of the program staff, however, structure in this case refers to how participants will be involved. If competition is to be part of your program, will leagues or tournaments better serve participants? Will special events, contests, or sport clubs be offered? What is the best time for different events? And how will participants sign up for intramural activities? These questions and issues are introduced in this chapter to help us develop a comprehensive understanding of how to plan intramurals. These topics are developed in greater detail in part III of this book.
As it should in every step of planning your intramural program, your mission should guide you in determining the organizational structure. For example, if your mission for intramural events is promoting competition, you would likely follow official rules rather rigidly, maintain up-to-date standings and post those standings in a conspicuous place, and award a substantial prize to the winners. If you mission for intramurals emphasizes fun, then you would likely use different rules and equipment to “level the playing field,” weight the standings to reward participation , fun, and fair play on the court, and award prizes to the teams that most exemplified the spirit of fun in competition.
Leagues and Tournaments
Most intramural programs involve tournaments or leagues. In fact, tournaments and leagues are such an integral component of intramurals that an entire chapter (12) is devoted to the topic. For now, think of them this way. Tournaments are one- or two-day events in which teams or individuals compete. Tournaments usually involve play-offs, in which the highest-scoring teams or individuals compete to determine an overall champion. Leagues are competitions that run for a week or more, perhaps an entire school year. Leagues and tournaments are the most common method of organizing intramural sport competitions at the high school and university levels. In grade and junior high school, a drop-in approach is typically used.
Alternatives
In addition to leagues and tournaments, there are many other ways to involve students in intramural activities. Each will be discussed more fully in chapter 11, but it is helpful at this point in the planning process to begin thinking about the options. The most common options, introduced in the next few sections, include special events, contests, and sport clubs.
Special Events
Special events are usually one-day events, but they can also run shorter or longer. A lunchtime or after-school activity can also be a special event, for example. For our purposes, special events include any event that celebrates something (i.e., Thanksgiving or the winter season) or promotes the intramural program (e.g., an orientation activity or specially discounted group tickets to a local facility), or any event in which participants do something out of the ordinary.
For example, some schools organize games on orientation day or during the first week of school to promote intramurals. To celebrate winter or counteract “cabin fever,” some schools organize a day of winter games and activities in January or a day of skiing at a local ski resort. To celebrate Thanksgiving, some schools hold an annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot, a 5-mile (kilometer) run in which the winner is the one with the best time or the one who comes closest to that predicted finish time. This is just one example of a holiday special event, but any holiday can serve as the backdrop for a special event.
Contests
Contests are interspersed throughout the year to generate interest in an intramural program and to attract students who might not normally participate in competitive leagues and tournaments. Contests typically are brief promotional events, usually held somewhere other than a gymnasium. Some examples of contests include a lunchtime tug-of-war, a sock-shooting challenge before school (the shooter who shoots the most rolled-up socks into a portable basket in the main lobby wins, and all socks are donated to a homeless shelter), and a challenge to see who can Hula Hoop the longest. Finally, some schools use special events to generate interest in the intramural program. For example, a game like Sock It to Me (Byl 2002, p.4), in which players tuck one end of a sock in their waistbands and try to steal as many socks from other players as they can, could be run over a period of several days.
Special events usually revolve around a special day or theme, and although some of the activities are competitive, typically most activities are not. Contests are unique and usually brief competitive events used to promote intramurals in general and reach out to those not normally involved in intramural activities.
Sport Clubs
Sport clubs are another way to involve students in physical activity. A sport club usually comprises a group of individuals who join together voluntarily, in a formal or informal organization, for the purpose of participating in a particular sport. Sport clubs in educational institutions are typically student initiated and operated, and largely self-financed (Cleave 1994). For example, some students may want to learn and practice Tae Kwon Do, but due to financial reasons, the intramural program may not be able to provide that programming. Rather than forget about the idea altogether, students could decide to form a student club (methods of doing this vary from institution to institution), get a faculty advisor, and attend regular meetings. Once officially recognized as a club, the students might qualify for institution grants and/or student government aid (this also varies from institution to institution) to help with purchasing equipment or hiring instructors. The intramural program may also be able to help by providing facility time, administrative organization or services, and/or limited supervision.
Sport clubs can be formed for any activity of interest by a sufficient number of participants. Ideally suited to the sport club structure are interests and hobbies such as jogging, aerobics, cycling, orienteering, cross-country skiing, cross-country running, and any of the martial arts. While they are not technically part of intramurals, sport clubs can be publicized and promoted by program staff, which creates the appearance of a well-rounded intramural program that has something for everyone. (Sport clubs are more fully discussed in chapter 11.)
Timing
“Timing is everything,” as the saying goes. In intramural programming, there are three factors to consider: (1) the best time to run an activity (when students are available); (2) the length of an activity (to capture and hold student interest); and (3) when the activities will be held throughout the year. Each of these factors is discussed in the following sections.
The Best Time for Intramural Activities
At grade and high schools, intramural activities are typically run over lunchtime or the noon hour. If students live close to the school building, some institutions have enjoyed success with before- and after-school programs, although fewer students are usually available at this time because of piano lessons, family commitments, bible study, and so on. Also, before- and after-school activities can be difficult to coordinate when the school gymnasium is occupied, which is usually the case at these times.
Many colleges and universities host intramural events throughout the day, although many students are reluctant to show up for early-morning activities. Some intramural directors go the extra mile and, at sign-up, ask students and teams when they are available and then schedule activities accordingly. This type of scheduling becomes difficult when a lot of teams have to be coordinated. One way to simplify the process of matching activity times with student schedules is to divide the teams into groups and assign times to each group. For example, if you had 16 teams, you could divide them into four groups (of four teams each) and schedule each group’s playing time based on when they are available. Some students may prefer night games, while others might prefer morning or lunchtime or immediately after class. Play-offs, of course, would have to be scheduled far enough ahead of time that students could modify their schedules to accommodate the game(s).
Some colleges have found that hosting intramural activities between 4 and 7 p.m. works well. Close enough to the end of the students’ classes, this time slot means that students do not have to come back to school to participate. Colleges with a large residence base often run their intramural activities from 10 to 12 p.m. The late-evening hours accommodate varsity team practice times, so the gym is usually free. Plus, this time period is often considered “mid evening” by many college students.
The Length of Intramural Activities
Depending on the age of intramural participants, the length of intramural activities may be crucial. Younger students, for example, tend to get bored more quickly than older students. Likewise, energy levels naturally rise and wane throughout the day. These factors must be considered when planning the length of intramural activities.
Ideally an event should end at its peak. They should not be so short that participants are not satisfied and they should not be so long that participants get bored. In the last few years, intramural programming has moved away from long activities, such as semester- or year-long leagues. Instead, intramural scheduling is leaning toward shorter activity units (a unit being something like a two-week volleyball league, or three-week floor hockey league), some lasting as long as three to four weeks but many lasting only a weekend or an afternoon. University and college students do occasionally enjoy a semester-long league in a sport they are interested in, but that length of time is much too long for elementary students, who are more likely to lose interest in events that take that much time.
The Intramural Season
Planning an intramural season is like playing golf. Before a round of golf, a golfer begins to assess the course, plan some shots at various holes, take some practice swings, and make sure that all the equipment is ready to go. On the course, each hole has its own challenges. A golfer considers each shot by thinking about the successive shots required to get the ball in the hole. After each shot, a golfer evaluates the swing and the shot, and celebrates when it is done well. Throughout the game, a golfer makes adjustments according to certain variables such as a change in the weather, a broken club, and so on. In an 18-hole round, a golfer stops halfway through the course, taking stock of the game so far, mentally regrouping, maybe taking a break in the clubhouse for some refreshment, and developing a new strategy for the remainder of the course.
Like golfers, intramural directors must think about the season (assess the course), plan various activities and components of the program (plan some shots), try out a few ideas (take some practice swings), and consider their resources and facilities (make sure all equipment is ready). Then, throughout the planning process and season, intramural directors must think about upcoming activities (think about successive shots), all the while considering the program mission (to get the ball in the hole). After each activity (shot), as well as throughout the year (round of golf), intramural directors must evaluate, make adjustments, and celebrate successes.
The planning process is complex, to be sure. The following planning calendar will take you through the process of programming a year’s worth of intramural activities. (See chapter 11’s “Sample Activities for the Year,” beginning on page 189, for specific activity ideas.)
July/August/September  Before the start of the school year, it is important to review last year’s program. This includes evaluating successes and failures, and making necessary adjustments. To begin, answer the following questions. (These questions, as well as the evaluation process itself, are discussed more fully throughout this book.)
>	Do we need to revise our mission statement?
>	What facilities are currently available?
>	Have we adequately and fully used those facilities?
>	Do our facilities need to be modified this year?
>	Will other facilities become available during the year?
>	Do we need to revise the structure of the program?
>	What are our human resource needs?
>	How will we ensure fair play?
>	How will we ensure safety?
>	How will we promote and celebrate program successes?
>	How will the program be financed?
>	Do we have adequate budgetary tools and procedures in place?
>	What activities do we plan to offer?
>	When and where will they be held?
>	What type of events will we host?
>	How will we measure our performance?
September/October/November  At the start of the school year, you should have an overall plan developed—plus any immediate steps to begin the first activities and events. In other words, it’s time to put planning into action. At this time, as well as throughout the year, it is important to deal with problems as they arise. This requires a procedure for recording and evaluating results.
December/January/February/March  Mid year—usually the end of the first semester (or Christmas break for nonsemester schools)—is the time to take stock of the semester’s intramural programming, celebrate the successes, make adjustments that will be helpful for the next semester, and prepare to implement the next semester’s programming. At Easter break (for grade and high schools), it’s a good idea to take stock again, readjust, and then implement the final portion of the intramural programming. It is often helpful at this time to ask the following questions about participation, staffing, and upcoming events.
>	How did the participation numbers compare to last year?
>	Was the spirit of participation positive or negative, encoruraging or discouraging, pleasant or nasty?
>	Were participants satisfied with the activities?
>	Were there any complaints?
>	Were there any problems with program staffing?
>	What needs to be done to get ready for upcoming activities?
April/May/June  At the end of the school year, it’s time to review and evaluate the year, which includes celebrating successes and making necessary preparations for next year. This year-end evaluation is a more comprehensive and formal evaluation. Thus, an entire chapter (14) is devoted to the subject.
>	How did the overall specific event participation numbers compare to last year’s?
>	Overall, was the spirit of participation positive or negative, encouraging or discouraging, pleasant or nasty? What about specific events?
>	Were expected financial income and expense projections met? Why or why not?
>	Have complaints or injuries raised concerns about specific areas of the program that need attention?
>	What are staffing needs for next year?
>	What must be completed to get ready for next year?
Sign-up
There are a variety of methods for organizing intramural sign-up, ranging from preseason team and individual sign-ups to last-minute team creation. These methods are outlined in the following sections. The guiding principle in deciding which method to use is as follows: (1) maximize participation (2) as simply as possible, (3) with equality of skill and playing level, and (4) be ready to reorganize teams as needed.
Whatever the specific program mission, intramurals is about mass participation (1). Organizational procedures should be developed to satisfy that requirement. Most intramural directors are busy, especially those at the elementary and high school levels who normally direct intramural activities on top of a full teaching load. Thus, whatever process gets the most people involved and is the most convenient to administer (2) is probably the best way to go.
When organizing competitive playing units, whether in the form of teams or individual opponents, equality of playing level (3) is important. If certain teams consistently dominate, players on weaker teams will likely not show up for games against the dominant teams. This is a surefire way to reduce participation, thus undermining a primary ingredient of the program. Because equal competitive ability is so important, you, as an intramural director, must reserve the right to restructure or reassign teams (4) if that would be helpful to participants.
Open Participation
The simplest way to organize intramural activities is open participation, an approach that specifies that grade levels for activities and attendance is open to anyone from that grade who wishes to participate. This method is commonly used in grade school intramurals. The following examples show a sample schedule for such a system, the first for a school with grades 1 through 5 and the second for a K-to-8 school.
Grades 1 through 5
Monday	Grade 1
Tuesday	Grade 5
Wednesday	Grade 3
Thursday	Grade 2
Friday	Grade 4
Grades K through 8
Monday	Grades 5-6
Tuesday	Grades K-2
Wednesday	Grades 7-8
Thursday	Grades 3-4
Friday	Open Gym (or make-up if there was a holiday)
The open participation system works best when participation numbers are unknown. In other words, if you don’t know whether 10 or 60 students will show up, it’s best to use open participation. Using this approach requires that you must able to quickly modify the activities to maximize participation. If the activity is floor hockey and 48 kids show up, for example, you could have teams of 24 and six on the floor at a time. To make sure everyone gets to play, you can signal a line change every 30 seconds.
Open participation also includes free, or unstructured, gym time. During free time, participants can sign out a basketball and play a pick-up game at one of the nets with a few buddies while others play different games in other parts of the facility. A pick-up game involves a few students who show up, want to play, and organize themselves into an informal game. For example, if six students show up for free gym time, sometimes called “open gym,” they might decide to play a game of three-on-three basketball. They divide themselves into two teams, determine the rules, sign out a basketball, and begin to play. Because of the liability issues (namely, negligence, adequate supervision, and risk management), which will be discussed in chapter 7, these players need to be supervised by employees of the educational institution, but this supervision does not require any organization or planning before or after the free gym time.
There are two advantages for using open participation. The main advantage of open participation is that students are free to attend or not attend. If they want to come one week but not the next, no problem. From the school’s perspective, another advantage of open participation is the lack of administration. There are no league schedules to prepare or promote and no standing to keep. The disadvantage of open participation has to do with meaningful participation. If a lot of students show up, allowing everyone enough play time may be difficult. Thus, the pressure is on the instructor to be prepared with games that can accommodate a few players as well as many.
Houses and Home Rooms
Another relatively simple way to organize intramural activities is the use of houses. A house is an organizational unit to which participants are assigned by dividing the student body into several large groups. Students are first organized into houses and then compete as house teams, or in the case of individual sports (such as badminton), compete as individuals representing their house teams. In a high school, for example, there might be four junior houses (grades 9-10) and four senior houses (grades 11-12). When a house is scheduled to compete, anyone from that house is encouraged to participate. For certain special events, some schools allow students to participate with their friends from other houses.
In grade and high schools with student populations under 500, it is common to organize students into houses. Based on a student list, students are randomly assigned one of four houses in which they will compete during the year. These house lists can also be generated from registration lists, by birth date, surname, home rooms, or geographical location. House lists should be balanced by gender, grade level, and competitive level (see “Inclusion” in chapter 6). Thus, intramural directors should be ready to scrutinize these lists and make any adjustments necessary.
The house system has advantages and disadvantages, some more obvious than others. The advantages are that students have the opportunity to meet their peers and create new friendships, and the administration is simple. Because students will likely be grouped with house team members they do not know, and because they will be playing with students who share their interests in a particular sport or activity, the house system presents an ideal opportunity to develop new relationships and friendships. On the administrative side, a house system is easy to structure ahead of time. Whether planning a tournament, league, or special event, an intramural director can count on four teams playing.
The disadvantages of the house system also have to do with friendships and administration. Because students are randomly assigned to houses, friends might not be on the same team. Thus, if a game is scheduled when a player could be hanging out with friends, the player may be tempted to hang out rather than play in the game. This, of course, erodes the central principle of intramurals: maximum participation. Along the same lines, students might feel reluctant to contact other house teammates they do not know, and therefore choose not to participate. On the administrative side, while a house system is relatively easy to organize ahead of time, it can take a lot of energy and time to maintain. For example, keeping each house involved and organized requires staff time and student leadership to maintain and develop interest and excitement for the students toward their house.
Similar to the house approach, some high schools use home rooms as houses. That is, each home room is a separate house. Home rooms generally meet first thing in the morning for school announcements and comprise students from different grades within the school. The advantages and disadvantages are similar to the house system. One additional advantage of this system over the house system, which is typically random, is that communication is simplified. Because students meet in home room every morning, schedules and other details can be easily announced. This system also has an additional disadvantage. Because home rooms usually consist of 40 or fewer students, house teams will have fewer available players. Thus, if not enough students are interested in playing for a home room team, those who are interested will not get to participate. Of course, home rooms can be combined to solve this problem.
Team and Individual Sign-up
As opposed to the random nature of the house and home room system, team and individual sign-up allows participants to sign -up with their friends. Most high schools and universities use an individual or team sign-up, or a combination of the two. The advantage of team sign-up is that when students sign up as a team, they have a sense of ownership. They feel connected to one another and, thus, encourage their teammates to show up. This results in greater camaraderie during the game and also fewer cancellations. The primary disadvantages to team sign-up lie in competitive level and inclusion. When athletic students sign-up as a team, lopsided matches result, and shy or less-skilled students may not be invited to sign-up. (A sample team sign-up sheet is shown on figure 13.1 on page 217.)
 These disadvantages can be prevented with individual sign-up. In individual sign-up, everyone who wants to participate signs up on the activity sign-up sheet. Those who wish to be team captains indicate this on the sign-up sheet (see figure 13.2 on page 218). From there, the intramural director can either invite team captains to a closed-door meeting to select their teams or assign students to teams and appoint team captains. The individual sign-up approach makes it easier for timid students to submit their names. All students who sign-up, regardless of popularity, personality, disposition, or athletic ability, get to be on a team.
The best way to ensure competitive equality, of course, is for the director to assign teams by spreading out the best players over several teams. While the most fair, however, this method may result in students dropping out or not showing up for games if they don’t get to play with their friends. When team captains select their own teams, it is more likely that friends will get to play on the same team, but lopsided matches and dominant teams will be the result.
On the administrative side, the individual sign-up approach is simple. Once players are divided into teams, competitions are scheduled and players are informed of the schedule. Because students may not know their teammates, it is important to make sure that team captains feel comfortable communicating with all their players—not just their friends.
Some high schools and colleges use a slightly different approach to team and individual sign-up. Rather than sign-up as a team or individual for only one activity, students sign up for an entire semester or academic year. The same team then competes in all intramural activities. Not all students are interested in every sport or activity, so in this case, teams must comprise at least 15 students. It is necessary to have a large enough team of players so that sufficient numbers of players are present for each game. If a team sign-up is used, friends will be playing together and will encourage one another to show up. If individual sign-up is used, students will get to know one another over the year and develop new friendships. Administratively, this approach is reasonably simple. The teams either organize themselves, or are organized at the start of the season, and the intramural director can count on a certain number of teams for most activities.
A final variation to team and individual sign-up is the use of departmental teams. Like company sport teams, department faculty and students can form teams to compete. Individuals or teams from each department sign up for intramural activities and then compete throughout the season. For example, the engineering school, business school, and nursing school could each have its own team. The advantages to this system include (1) greater team commitment and unity, particularly in the case of interdepartmental rivalries; and (2) familiarity between departmental students, and (3) decreased likelihood for scheduling difficulties since students in similar departments take classes at similar times and have similar breaks. Disadvantages include competitive equality and those instances when a student has friends on another departmental team.
Chapter Summary Exercises
This chapter outlined the basic structures of an intramural program, namely, the different types of facilities available and structural considerations about the timing of events and grouping of participants. The following exercises will help you review the contents of this chapter. In the next chapter, we will look at the structure of the organization itself.
	1.	What can you do with a hallway? Picture the hallway immediately outside of your classroom. Now select an age group of students. What intramural activities or events could you hold in that area?
	2.	Visit some facilities in your community. Could any of these be used for intramural activities? Prepare an outline of how you would go about renting or using those facilities. What questions would you ask the management? What other factors should you consider?
	3.	Take a few minutes to review your list of intramural activities you enjoyed in grade school, high school, and college. Now try to recall how you signed up. Did you like this sign-up method? Did it seem fair? Were you on teams with your friends, or were teams randomly assigned? Were you or other team members excluded? What would you do differently if you were the intramural director?
	4.	Use your answers in exercise 3 to describe the competitive playing units you plan to use for your own program. Describe why you chose these over the others.
References
Byl, J. 2002. Co-ed recreational games: Breaking the ice and other activities. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Cleave, S. 1994. Sport clubs—More than a solution to shrinking dollars and growing demands. NIRSA Journal 18 (3): 30-33.
Doyle, P. 1998. Awesome asphalt activities. Hamilton, Ontario: CIRA-Ontario.
Resources
Athletic Business Publications
Customer Service Department
P.O. Box 807
Fort Atkinson, WI 53538-0807
Telephone: 920-563-1761
Fax: 920-563-1704
Web site: www.athleticbusiness.com
Publishes Athletic Business, a free monthly journal about the business side of athletics, including such intramural-related topics as facility planning, equipment recommendations, legal issues, event administration, product reports, fitness center problems and solutions, and risk-management ideas.
AthleticSearch.com
Web site: www.AthleticSearch.com
Allows a free back-issue search, by topic, title, and author, of the Momentum Media Sports Publishing journals Athletic Management, Coaching Management, and Training and Conditioning. It also provides links to suppliers of intramural-related products by product category.
If you want information on weight room lay out, effective positioning of a control (welcome) desk, suggestions about new equipment, or examples of new facilities, you’ll find a lot of useful informantion in these journals.