Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports
Annual Report 2007-08
Department of Intramural and
Recreational Sports
Dare to Play Fair!
2007-2008
Annual Report
Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary
II. 2008-09 Goals
III. Intramural Staff
IV. Academic Unit Support
V. Staff Professional Development
VI. Activities That Support Diversity
VII. Departmental Issues and Challenges
VIII. Informal Sports
IX. Cardinal Corner
X. Health Science Campus Facility
XI. Intramural Sports
XII. Marketing
XIII. Assessment
XIV. Safety
XV. Technology
XVI. Fitness
XVII. Sports Club Federation
XVIII. Special Events / Programs
XIX. Activity Evaluations
XX. Facility Usage Statistics
XXI. List of Facility User Groups
XXII. Intramural Sports Statistics
XXIII. All Campus Points Totals
XXIV. Intramural Champions
XXV. 2008-2009 Intramural Schedule
2007-2008 Annual Report
Edited by: Dale Ramsay
Prepared by: David Rice
Contributors: John Smith
David Hatfield
Debby Woodall
David Rice
Dale Young
2007-2008
Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports
STAFF
Dale Ramsay Director
Janice Day Unit Business Manager
David Hatfield Assistant Director- Facilities
John Smith Assistant Director- Marketing, Technology, Safety
Debby Woodall Assistant Director- HSC Facility and Fitness
David Rice Coordinator of Sports Clubs and Facilities
Dale Young Coordinator of Intramural Sports
Roger Metry Program Assistant
Garry Baker Facility Supervisor- SAC
Michael Richeson Facility Supervisor- Humana
Frank Nuxoll Facility Supervisor- SAC
Greg Johnson Facility Supervisor- SAC
Jerry Barry Facility Supervisor- Humana
Tim Lynch Facility Supervisor- HSC
Jessie Chandler Facility Supervisor- HSC
Bob Dwyer Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals/Game Room
Brittney Burress Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Logan Davis Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Brandon Fox Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Dannie Commodore Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Dusty Wolcott Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Ebony Myles Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Kennisha Hall Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Brian Mahoney Undergraduate Assistant- Intramurals
Justin Franklin Undergraduate Assistant- Facilities
Dillon Bennett Undergraduate Assistant- Facilities
La’Kendra Hightower Undergraduate Assistant- Facilities
I. Executive Summary
The Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports had another excellent year. Approximately 16,000 members of the UofL community participated in at least one area of our program. Participation in our program continues to be strong in Intramurals. We had a record number of teams in both Flag Football and Basketball. In Informal Sports, we again had approximately 500,000 users. Our Sports Club program has a record 17 clubs. Our Group Fitness programs had a 65% increase in participation. These statistics indicate that our program is vibrant and that our popularity with the student body is at an all-time high.
The Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports also underwent a program review this year. Ron Lee, Director of Campus Recreation at the University of Kentucky, served as External Consultant. He spent two days on campus meeting with various constituent groups, our staff, and the Student Affairs administration. His review was extremely positive and served to validate the fact that our program does an outstanding job of serving our students.
One of the primary strengths of our program is the volume and quality of collaborations that Intramural-Recreational Sports has with different departments across campus. These collaborations serve to enhance the department’s ability to effectively serve our various constituency groups. The following is a summary of our numerous collaborations:
SGA / Cardinal Corner Game Room- SGA contributes $10,000 to the Intramural-Recreational Sports Department. In return, students get to use the room for free. This is an outstanding collaboration that enables the Cardinal Corner to be extremely popular with our students.
Welcome Weekend- Intramural-Recreational Sports was actively involved with Welcome Weekend. We provided an open house where incoming freshmen participated in Fitness classes, met with various representatives of our Sports Clubs, played Dodgeball, and worked out in our weight room. This program allowed for the freshmen to familiarize themselves with our various programs and services.
Athletics- We work closely with Athletics in cooperatively sharing the use of each other’s facilities. Our students benefit from getting to compete in outstanding venues such as Cardinal Arena (Basketball Championships), Bass/Rudd Tennis Center (Tennis Tournaments), Wright Natatorium (Swim Meet), and the Trager Stadium (Track Meet). Participating in these venues enhance the experience of participating in Intramurals for our students.
Yoga Classes- Intramural-Recreational Sports collaborated with Student Health and the Get Healthy Now program on establishing yoga classes for the University community. Each department shared in the cost, hiring the instructors, and providing the space for the classes. The yoga classes were extremely popular and we are planning to offer them again this year.
Financial Aid Office- Our department works closely with Charlie Schnell in the Financial Aid Office to recruit College Work Study students to work in the Intramural Department. Our department is the most popular place for CWS students to work on campus. By developing this relationship with Financial Aid, it assists us tremendously with our student wage budget by having a large number of CWS students.
International Center- Intramural-Recreational Sports works with the International Center and offers two “International Nights” in the SAC, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. The purpose of these programs is to expose International students to IM-Rec Sports. Many of the participants are part of our Badminton Club, which has a high percentage of International students.
Orientation- We are very involved in Orientation. We have a table at the information fair and are part of the presentation on campus involvement. We open the Game Room at night during each session and pay for the cost of staffing the room. We believe it is important to have a strong presence at Orientation to expose the incoming freshmen to our program.
Louisville Cardinal- We reached out to the Sports staff of the Louisville Cardinal this year to improve the coverage of Intramural Sports. Sports Editor Trevor Joelson and his staff did a tremendous job in covering our program this year. We look forward to further developing their coverage in the future.
Marching Band- With the development of the “Extreme Makeover” project of renovating the Intramural Field, we are now thrust into a collaboration with UofL’s Marching Band. We will work with them in scheduling and field maintenance. We have made it very clear to them that they are a full financial partner in the expense of maintaining the Intramural Field.
Nelligan- Our arrangement with Nelligan continues to be a financially successful one for our department. In this time of financial stress, Nelligan has done an excellent job in providing our department with additional revenue that we need to operate our program. Our partnership is unique in that we continue to be the only recreational sports program in the country with an agreement with a sports marketing firm. They even assisted us this year in getting a sponsor (Texas Roadhouse) for our Faculty/Staff Golf Scramble.
University Emergency Medicine- We have a partnership with University Emergency Medicine to enable us to have Automatic External Defibrillators in our facilities. Dr. Price wrote our prescriptions on our AED protocols. This relationship is important because of the necessity for our staff to be able to respond to a cardiac emergency.
Student Affairs Collaborations
Housing Move-In Day- We assist with Housing Move-In Day in August
Field Days- Our department coordinates this Welcome Weekend
program for the Dean of Students Office.
Student Athletic Tickets- Dale Ramsay assist SGA with the Student Athletic
ticket registration process.
First Aid Classes- John Smith teaches First Aid Classes for both the
Intramural and Student Activities staffs, as well as other university employees.
Speech / Literature
Distribution Policy- Dale Ramsay, under the auspices of the Dean of Students Office, works with off-campus groups to ensure they are in compliance with the University’s Speech/Literature Distribution Policy.
Physical Plant- We have an excellent relationship with the various trades in the Physical Plant. We have spent a great deal of time cultivating these relationships. We receive excellent service from the Physical Plant. In an effort to show our appreciation to them we work closely with them on our extremely popular Faculty/Staff Golf Outing. Many Physical Plant employees participate in the tournament. They assist us in obtaining sponsorships for the event as well.
In addition to the extensive list of successful collaborations we had in 2007-08, another accomplishment we are proud of is the level of sportsmanship displayed in our competitive leagues. We continue to promote our “Dare to Play Fair” campaign emphasizing good sportsmanship. Due to our continued efforts in this area, our discipline problems in our competitive leagues are minimal. This reflects our student’s commitment to participating in Intramural Sports in an appropriate manner.
Another significant accomplishment of the Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports was its prominent listing on the redesigned University of Louisville webpage. The fact that Intramurals is listed prominently on the main university webpage speaks to both the popularity of our program and the level of respect that we have throughout the university community.
We appreciate the strong leadership and support that we continue to receive from Dr. Tom Jackson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dr. Michael Mardis, Dean of Students. Without their efforts in supporting our program, we would be unable to move forward on a number of initiatives that are important to our department. Dr. Mardis was a former employee of our Department and it has been a tremendous benefit to our program having him back at UofL.
The Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports had another outstanding year. Our participation remains strong and we have excellent relationships throughout UofL. Our strengths continue to be a dedicated staff, a commitment to improving our program, strong customer service, and our continue ability to accept change. The opportunity to serve continues to be our privilege.
II. 2008-09 Goals
1. Work with the Vice President for Student Affairs, Dean of Students, and Student Government Association on the creation of a Student Recreation Fee.
2. Work with various constituencies on getting an artificial turf field installed on the Intramural Field.
3. Work with an architect to explore the feasibility of expanding the recreational space in the Student Activity Center.
4. Continue to collaborate with Student Health and Get Healthy Now on offering yoga classes to the UofL community.
5. Host a Fitness Instructor Certification Workshop.
6. Teach staff the new method of compression-only CPR.
7. Look for opportunities in the Cardinal Corner to expand outlets for student gamers.
8. In the Fall of 2008, serve as a site for the ESPN-sponsored Strongest Man on Campus competition.
9. Rebuild the Department of Intramural Sports website.
10. Refurbish and re-surface the SAC gym floors and racquetball courts.
III. Intramural Staff
The Department of Intramural Sports has 15 full-time employees. We also employ approximately 150 student employees who serve as facility workers and sports officials. The strength of our staff is their dedication and loyalty to the Department. The full-time staff has in excess of 230 years of service to UofL in the Intramural Sports Department.
We are losing two of our current staff members this year. Intramural Coordinator Dale Young recently got married and is moving to Arkansas. Dale did an outstanding job and made significant contributions to our program. Jessie Chandler, our evening Facility Supervisor, is taking a position as Director of Compliance in the Athletic Department at Arkansas Tech. Jessie did an excellent job and was extremely popular with the HSC users.
We will miss both Dale and Jessie and we wish them the best with their professional endeavors.
IV. Academic Unit Support
We have an outstanding relationship with the Health and Sports Studies Department (HSS). HSS uses both the SAC and Humana Gym for the activity classes during the Fall and Spring semesters. We currently provide space for over 30 classes. These classes benefit our program due to the fact that the HSS students use our facilities and get exposure to our program. We also provide valuable internship opportunities for the HSS students. Dale Ramsay is also an HSS faculty member, teaching classes in Recreational Sports Management and Sports Officiating.
We also attend the Internship Fair sponsored by the College Student Personnel program. We offer internship opportunities to these students in our program to expose CSP students to IM-Rec Sports, which is a non-traditional area of Student Affairs.
In the Fall of 2008, we are working with Dr. Ralph Merkle in the Communications Department. We are hosting an event on campus called “The Strongest Man on Campus”. This event is sponsored by ESPN. They have selected several campuses throughout the country for this event. The competition will be aired by ESPN but will be produced entirely by students in the Communications Department. This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to get some practical experience producing a television show.
V. Staff Professional Development
Dale Ramsay- Taught two classes for HSS (Rec. Sports Management and Sports
Officiating)
Served as external consultant for Keene State College
High school and college basketball official
Contributing writer to High School Sports Magazine
Attended CPAK Conference
Attended NIRSA Conference
John Smith- Taught First Aid/ CPR Classes
Red Cross Instructor
Conducted clinics for Kentucky High School Athletic Association
Assigning Secretary for High School Volleyball and Softball in Jefferson County
Attended CPAK Conference
Attended NIRSA Conference
Dale Young- Assigned officials for St. Xavier High School Intramural Sports
Assisted Jefferson County Public Schools with establishing a Flag
Football League
Attended NIRSA Conference
Debby Woodall- Attended Fitness Conference in Las Vegas
Served on Host Committee for Mid-Manager’s Institute
Attended CPAK Conference
David Hatfield- Attended NIRSA Conference
David Rice- Attended NIRSA Sports Club Symposium
Attended CPAK Conference
VI. Activities That Support Diversity
One of the strengths of our program is its diversity of participants. Our motto of “A Sport For Everyone And Everyone In A Sport” promotes inclusiveness in all aspects of our program.
In Intramurals, there is a high percentage of African-American students who participate in Flag Football and Basketball. The student group Porter Scholars became very active in the Intramural Sports program this year. The majority of our Intramural Sports supervisors and officials were African-American students.
In Informal Recreation, the number of users of the recreational space in the SAC is approximately 20% African-American. It is apparent that African-American students are active participants in all phases of our program.
Our program is also popular with International students. We host International Night both Fall and Spring semesters in the SAC. The majority of the members of our Badminton Club are International students. A large number of International students also participate in our Soccer Leagues.