Campus Competition: Intramural Sports

The newest of the sporting competitions for on-campus students, Intramural Sports (IS) is an integral part of Sydney University’s distinctive residential experience. 

Going strong since its inception last year, the sports program connects students from 8 residencies and sees them compete for the men’s Thomas Whalan Cup and the women’s Liane Tooth Cup.

On the court, teams from Queen Mary Building, Abercrombie Student Accomodation, International House, Mandelbaum House, Urbanest, Sancta Sophia College, UniLodge and Sydney University Village go head-to-head in Futsal, basketball, badminton, table tennis, netball, ultimate frisbee and spike ball.

But where’s rugby, cricket, rowing or even the traditional track and field? This is the best part. Intramural Sport is adaptive, with different sports chosen by the students for the students.

The program evolves with its participants and can change year-to-year based on what’s most popular at the time. 

And while winning is the icing on this one-year-old’s cake, just ask 2016 champs Queen Mary Building and International House, the real topping is so much more… but rather than us telling you how good we think this Intramural thing is, we thought it best for a participant to get you up to speed in their own words. Take it away, Tiger Zhifu Li of UniLodge…

“Studying a Masters in the History Department at the University of Sydney, I like doing sports because I believe it’s a good way to release my academic stress and it can keep me fit as well. I think though that the best part of Intramural Sport so far is meeting new friends not only from where I stay, but also people from different university halls.

Although I am not particularly good at any sport, I like to be involved. During tournaments my role is to be an organiser, a coach and a cheerleader. As the sports representative my role is to first generate interest around UniLodge ahead of upcoming matches, then form the team and arrange a couple of practise sessions. This training time helps players get to know each other and of course form a strategy.

Come game day, while I’m not playing on the court, I can sometimes see different things that our players may not be able to see and give feedback. I am pleased to report that our male Fustal team went on to reach the Semi-Finals and was very impressed to see our female basketball team win two games at Pool Stage and also reach their Semi-Final.

I have made many new friends through Intramural Sport and it makes my University experience much better. In fact, it is one of the reasons that I like to live at UnilLodge. It’s great to see so many people smiling and having a good time while playing sport.”

Friendly competition, a place to meet new people and build friendships, a chance for a study-break and the physical activity tick. Ah, where can we sign up?! After strong performances in futsal and basketball, Queen Mary Building currently leads the charge towards victory, closely followed by Sydney University Village in 2nd place and International House rounding off the top 3 but there’s plenty more to come and come they will as Semester 2 fixtures bring the bulk of points to the table.

Check out the timetable and learn more about IS here.