Intramural sports at Goshen College give non-athletes and athletes alike an opportunity to participate in athletics of their choice. Intramurals provide those involved with a less competitive atmosphere – most of the time.

The basketball intramural leagues are split up by gender with a total of three leagues. The men have an A-league and a B-league, while there is a single league for women. The men’s A-league is for more experienced players and is intended to be an all-around more competitive league. For that reason, collegiate players are allowed to participate in the A-League and not in the B-League.

A testament to the degree of competitiveness seen in the A-League, there have been a few fights already this year. Chad Coleman, resident director and coordinator of intramural sports, had to break one of them up.

“It’s all about having fun,” said first-year Martin Hofkamp. “I’m in A-league, but I wish I was in B-league where I could just play for fun.”

A lot of the confrontations stem from the fact that players call their own fouls. This becomes problematic when some players are more competitive than others, and perhaps more willing to take advantage of this foul-calling freedom.

Playing just for fun seems to be the idea for many athletes in the B-League. “Compared to A-league, it [B-league] isn’t that competitive,” said sophomore Abe Stucky, who plays on a B-League squad. Most people know that the B-League should be less competitive, but according to Stucky, there has been some controversy in foul calls and smack talk recently. “Some question calling fouls in B-League at all because it’s B-League and not A,” said Stucky.

Enjoyment is the most important thing for many B-League players. Jared Miller, a first-year, is part of a B-league team that has lost some of their past games by scores of 27-72 and 23-49. Although his team is beaten frequently, there have been a couple games where they only lost by a point or two. “It’s always the most fun when it’s close,” said Miller. They won their first game in the first round of the end-of-season tournament on Monday evening by a single point.

The basketball intramural tournaments concluded last night. The indoor intramural soccer season starts on March 15, with a registration due date of March 10. No more than four collegiate players are allowed on one team.