Longwood Intramurals: Behind the Scenes

Intramurals at Longwood University are very popular among students who are looking to play sports at a competitive level while at the same time in a casual environment. Longwood offers many intramural sports from volleyball to soccer to flag football and many more.

These activities offer students a space where they can be in charge of their own team as well as create an environment where they can interact with other students from all around campus.

These may seem like simple tournaments to put on when looking in from the outside, but there is a lot of work that is put on behind the scenes. From scheduling games, hiring referees, locations, and expenses, there is a good amount of work put on behind the scenes.

There are three different levels of people who are involved in getting the intramurals up and running as well as making sure the tournaments go as planned, the assistant director of sports programs, student supervisors, and referees.

Longwood just hired Aaron Elder over the summer as the assistant director of sports programs. Elder has over four years of experience working in campus recreation facilities and finished his master’s degree in sports and recreation leadership from James Madison University in May.

Elder is in charge of overseeing all of the student supervisors and referees who are a huge part of making the intramurals happen. “The first thing we need to do is get ahead of the planning process. We have student employees so that is the first thing we need to get organized as well as the time frames of all the events we want to plan.”

After figuring out what times and dates are good for some of the student workers to be in place, the next priority Elder has is having a primary location as well as a backup location. “For sand volleyball this semester we have majority of our games being held at the Stubbs court, but when the court is not available we have to use the sand court over at Lancer Park.”

These events would not be possible without the help of student workers. There are currently three intramural supervisors and nine student officials/referees.

The role of the intramural supervisors is to look over each other as well as the nine other student officials to make sure everything is run correctly and smoothly. They are involved in all of the referee tasks when it comes to games but are also involved in scheduling the games and conducting meetings between all of the student workers as well as the intramural teams for each season.

Tillar Bagby has been working with campus recreation intramurals for three years, two of which have been as an intramural supervisor. “I do a lot of the scheduling, we also oversee a lot of other events that are sponsored by sororities and fraternities,” Bagby stated.

Bagby states that his experience with the campus recreation team has been great, he has built a lot of connections with his co-workers and administrative staff, as well as those who are just playing in the tournaments as well. He has made a connection with everyone on all aspects of the game.

The final position when it comes to intramurals is a student official/referee. They are the ones most people see if they are ever playing in an intramural game or spectating from the sidelines, they are usually the ones calling the game.

TJ Willman is a senior who has been playing intramurals ever since he was a freshman. He decided to get more involved with the community and has now been a campus recreation official for two months now and states, “The main things I really do is bring things to the location, set-up, take-down and referee the games.”?

“I love sports, I love the cooperation between the staff and the players, and I really enjoy just seeing everybody play,” Willman stated.

Longwood campus recreation has intramurals being played both in the fall and spring semester and everything from registration to scheduling is run through IMleagues. There is a cost for a team to join depending on the event, previously for volleyball the entry fee was $20, and for an event like pickleball, the fee was $10.

To check out more about Longwood intramurals and campus recreation you can see their Instagram page @longwoodcampusrec or go to IMleagues and connect your account to Longwood University.