Feature Story

Intramural Sports – Trend Feature Story
Kerry Gugliotto
kerbear732@yahoo.com
Headline:
WSU Intramural Leagues Remain Popular
Summary:
“Not many high school athletes have both the skills and drive to play at the college level,” Dmitry Babayev, a junior at WSU said. “Playing sports, being competitive and a part of a team was something I loved during high school, but thought I would have to do without in college.”
Almost every weekend Babayev puts on a uniform and plays on a team without the sacrifices of playing at the college level. This is his third year playing intramural sports at WSU.
“It is the best of both worlds,” he said. “I get to be competitive and play the sports I love while having time to be a normal college student.”
Babayev is among many to discover intramural sports at WSU. Each year 5,500–6,000 WSU students participate in at least one sport, and this has remained fairly consistent from year to year, said Dave Pearson an assistant director for the University Recreation Center in charge of competitive sports, special events and youth programs.
“WSU remains one of the largest intramural programs in the nation for a school this size and as of the last check, the second largest in the Pac-10 despite being one of the smaller Pac-10 schools,” said Jeff Elbracht, the associate director for the University Recreation Center. “Nearly 50 percent of students participate in some type of intramural activity while at WSU.”
“The program is run pretty well and there are always a lot of participants,” Babayev said.
The UREC’s current Playfield Improvement Project to improve the Valley Road Playfields will benefit intramural sport participants, Sarah Driscoll, a chair member of the UREC advisory board said.
The Valley Road Playfields are the second most utilized UREC facility and has 25,000 scheduled users, Elbracht said.
The new field will be made of field turf. This will allow it to be used year round as well as conserve the 13 million gallons of water and 450 gallons of fuel it takes each year to maintain the current playfields, Elbracht said. Usage of the fields is anticipated to double because of these improvements.
During the 6 months of construction, intramural participants will have fewer locations to play, and the board does not want to limit the amount of students who can participate, Driscoll said.
“Games are likely to run later into the night,” she said. “They might go as late as 1 a.m.”
The board met with WSU’s Service and Activity Fee Committee last month to discuss funding for the project.
“The Service and Activity Committee has recently pledged to support the project which will allow for the completion of the design and the solicitation of the formal bids on the construction project,” Elbracht said. “Once formal bids are received the request will be done to the Service and Activity Committee for the exact amount needed to fund the project.”
Including design, construction and equipment the most the project will cost is $10.9 million. The current economy may allow UREC to get cheaper construction bids, Elbracht said.
Student fees will not increase because of this project, Driscoll said.
Construction should start in June 2010 and the estimated completion date is December 2010, Elbracht said.


Related Sites:
http://urec.wsu.edu/facilities_playfield_layout.aspx
Contacts:
Jeff Elbracht
509-335-9668
Elbracht@wsu.edu
Dave Pearson
509-335-9660
Dmp54@wsu.edu
Dmitry Babayev
206-852-4324
Dmitry.babyev@email.wsu.edu
Sarah Driscoll
206-226-5225