Students prep for intramural basketball season

       Throughout the previous basketball intramural seasons and tournaments, players have played each game with passion and there has been a high level of competition. Now that a new season is starting, it does not seem like it will be an exception.

       Rodney Edwards, player from last year's men's division A champion, "Play Hard", said that he is "excited about intramurals starting again."

"The team is ready to get out there and repeat the win from last year," he said.

      "My favorite thing about (basketball) intramurals is that the competition, exercise and the therapy of getting away from work and school," Edwards said.

     The league is amateur and many teams do not really prepare for the games, outside of a few pick-up games in the Recreation Center. However, the level of competition can be extremely high and the atmosphere can be "hectic" sometimes, as Edwards described it.

On the court, players put a lot of passion into the game.

    Edwards remembered his first intramural semifinals where he was on the losing side and had to stand the fact that his team was penalized with 4 technical fouls in the last 2 minutes of the game.

     "During intramural semifinals in my freshman year, this ref was calling everything for the other team and we had to stop one of my teammate who almost started an altercation," Edwards said while laughing.

       Every player in the league comes out with everything they've got to come out victorious and be prized with some interesting awards such as playing in a southeast region tournament where all the best intramural basketball teams from each school get to compete against each other.

     In addition, last year, the top players from the men's league were put into an All-Star team and played Georgia Tech's All-Star intramural team at Philips Arena right after a Hawks game.

      According to Edwards, Play Hard is really motivated for this year due to some of their past experiences in the league.

      "Last year, they did not choose any of our players to play for the All-Star team until we asked them to." He said. "Small things like that give us motivation to start off this season."

       High competition in the league and exciting games was just what the creators of the league were looking for when they started it.

     "The purpose of intramurals is to give students an opportunity to exercise and release from stress while having fun." Andy Hudgins, Assistant Director of the Department of Recreational Services, said. "We give players the opportunity to play basketball at a somewhat high level."

     Like the previous years, basketball intramurals will be divided into five different leagues: women, coed, fraternity, A men division, and B men division. Games will begin this Wednesday.

      "Registering is very easy," Hudgins said. "Just by visiting our website (www.gsuim.com) you can sign up for the sports available."