Picture a game of basketball, pure basketball. No complaining, no arguing, just fun and laughter. Friends playing against friends, teachers officiating as fair as possible, making the game run smoothly. This is GHS intramural basketball in a nutshell.
High school sports nowadays have turned into straight competitiveness, most of the time leaving the fun out of it. It has been shown that kids get so worked up in an array of emotions, becoming overwhelmed to go above and beyond their coaches, their parents and their own expectations. This is where intramural sports steps in, especially basketball. With the nonstop grind of playing a sport, students have expressed how easy it is to get caught up in it for the wrong reasons and forget why they fell in love with the game in the first place.
“My favorite part of intramural basketball is being able to play the game at a non-competitive level,” sophomore Luke Johnson said. “You have free reign and don’t feel pressure to succeed.”
The intramural program was first created to engage kids who do not participate in a school sport. It offers other opportunities for students to go outside of their comfort zone and try something new. On top of that, intramural basketball can be a way to stay in shape and mess around with friends when they are not involved in any type of sport or physical activity.
“The original purpose of why the school board made it one of their goals was to get kids who are not involved in activities involved in something,” intramural basketball director Mrs. Kari Bulgrin said.
Flash back to 2015, the school board had a vision. A vision of intramural basketball. They knew they had to make it a goal of theirs to get it up and running for kids who’d like to play. This was when Mrs. Bugrin stepped up by organizing the schedules, getting the teams created, and supervising the games.
“My favorite part of the program is seeing the kids outside of school, having fun and being rambunctious,” Mrs. Bulgrin said. “I think the kids love having a chance to play against their classmates and just getting together outside of school.”
In the whole, intramural basketball is a place to retreat from all the stress that is accumulated through other school and club sports.