When I was looking at colleges my senior year of high school, a strong intramural sports program was fairly high up on my list. I played a variety of sports my whole life, yet not at a top level where I would be able to commit to a varsity team. Coming from a small high school, I hoped and prayed that college would have more girls wanting to dedicate themselves to a team and participate at an intramural level.

Now I’m ending my freshman year here at Alabama and have discovered that is unfortunately not the case.

My prior research led me to believe that I would be able to actively participate in an assortment of athletic opportunities at UA, yet after signing up for volleyball and basketball, I realized I was repeating high school. The practices that were scheduled, always canceled. The games that I went to, not enough people showed up and therefore canceled.

The refs were inconsistent and didn’t arrive on time, meaning the games that were possible to play, canceled. While I expected there would not be an abundance of girls who would want to play basketball, or sports for that matter, the numbers were shocking and for those who were actually looking to play, the program made it disappointing, to say the least. I’ve heard mixed things about the male intramurals, I know they are better run, solely due to the fact that the participants are much higher than the female side.

While I would attempt to go to the next level and try out for club sports, Alabama doesn’t have a women’s club basketball team. We go to a top sports university in the nation, yet why are we spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on our football team, yet the consistency across the board for all athletic programs and facilities is pathetic.

I love Alabama, and I don’t think you could find a bigger football fan. While I understand revenue issues and how there should be more focus on varsity sports and more popular ones, our intramurals should not be run into the ground.

If UREC were to take action, develop a better online system for sign-ups and recruit more people, I think there is potential for this issue to take a U-turn. There are so many opportunities at this school and phenomenal facilities that allow the support of a healthy lifestyle and a draw that makes you actually want to go to the gym.

Therefore, I hate to see something that is so close to my heart having a bad reputation for current and future students who have a similar mindset. For all girls, take action! If you’re interested in playing sports or even trying them out, go for it! If there are enough people, and enough interest to change the current program, then I’m sure that one day the intramural sports program will be booming.