By Nick Vasquez, Jan. 25, 2022
Despite a rise in COVID-19 cases and in-person classes being delayed until Feb. 12, ASI Recreation Committee plans for intramural sports to start in February.
Intramural competitions are tentatively scheduled to start the week of Feb. 21, 9 days after classes are scheduled to move back to in-person. This semester will feature modifications to comply with the California State University’s COVID-19 protocols, including a mask requirement for players playing indoors.
Cal Poly Pomona’s Competitive Sports Assistant Scott Brashear explained the status of the upcoming intramural season.
“We might have to do something similar to last semester, in regard to shortening the season and pushing it back,” said Brashear. “At that point, hopefully, cases are dropped to where we are able to run in the way that we’d like to.
There will be a variety of sports to sign up for in the spring semester including volleyball, softball, basketball, 7 v 7 soccer, flag football, step challenge and esports. There will also be various tournaments and competitions, starting with a three-point basketball tournament on Friday, Feb. 17.
Despite being satisfied with the participation last semester, Competitive Sports Manager Agon Abazi said he expects an uptick in participation this semester due to the return of basketball leagues.
Even though the restrictions due to COVID-19 has limited the possibility of in-person activities over the past two years, there has been a number of online activities added in order to keep students engaged in intramural competition.
“Once COVID hit, we had to get creative and figure out how we were going to provide programming through a virtual environment,” Abazi said. “I think that those are things that have stuck, and they are things that we are going to keep doing going forward.”
Esports games options will include Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., Valorant, FIFA and NBA 2K. There will be tournaments held for FIFA on April 29 and NBA 2K on April 22. Students and staff are able to sign up for esports tournaments on the ASI Programs page.
There will also be other sports and activities offered on campus such as chess, rock climbing, racquetball, tennis and spike ball to partake in.
Graduate assistant for intramurals Milton Cruz explained the process of getting intramurals approved for the semester and the complications that come along with that.
“What’s going to happen this year I imagine is going to be like what we did last semester,” said Cruz. “It just depends on the higher ups and what they want to do. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes legislation work where we submit proposals to show how we are going to handle cases. If there are more outbreaks then we’ll adjust to that.”
Registration for intramurals begins Jan. 21 and is free of charge. Jerseys and other materials will be provided by the BRIC. All leagues run through April; however, the dates could potentially change depending on COVID-19 protocols.
Registration for all sports is available to all students and faculty on the ASI Campus Recreation page. For more updates on intramurals, follow the ASI Campus Recreation page on Instagram @cppcampusrec.
Feature image courtesy of Alex Osornio.
