Intramural Sports started the first tournament Monday with indoor soccer.
This year’s season has 20 men’s teams and 9 women’s. All the teams consist of students, staff and faculty. The sport will be a double elimination tournament lasting until Sept. 22 for the men. The women’s tournament starts Oct. 12 and lasts until Sept. 22. Both tournaments will be held inside the Rec Center in Gym C and D.
Many teams started practicing the week before the tournament started. Old Man United is a team of all seniors that will be graduating in December or May. The captain, Chris Blakeley, a senior business management major from Dallas, plans on using the strategy of having fun with his friends for their last time to play together. The Shin Kickers is a mostly freshmen team under the command of Logan Chapman, a freshman business management and finance major from San Antonio. Chapman started his with a practice to get his group of friends ready for the tournament.
Frater Sodalis’ indoor soccer team is ready to start up under the lead of captain and intramural director, Bobby La Chiusa, a senior engineering major from Houston. La Chiusa is aiming to have fun while bringing in their techniques from outdoor soccer to the indoor games. The captains enjoy their team because of the diverse group of guys they play with. With Frats being a smaller club, they recruit freshmen, who get a taste of being a part of the brotherhood. “I met my club through intramurals,” said Nathan Vela, a junior business management major from Pflugerville. “I didn’t have any interest in pledging until I got invited to play with Frats. Intramurals gave me the opportunity to meet my brothers.”
Gamma Sigma Phi is also planning on bringing their brotherhood into the tournament with 3 different teams. “The best way to rush GSP and really get to know us is to come watch our intramural games,” said Jonathan Bradford, a senior psychology major from College Station. “We enjoy our time together as brothers. GSP is hard at work with their more skilled team with practices and strategy to win.”
Ten Plagues is a soccer team made up of professors, graduate students, and staff members. The captain, Dr. Kilnam Cha, assistant professor Bible, Missions and Ministry Department, is ready to start the smack talk fun with his students. Cha said, “When you play with students, it isn’t about winning. It’s about the experience you get to share with your students.” The Ten Plagues team combine with the Sunflowers of Death team. The total players are:
- T. Kyle Tippens, assistant professor of finance
- Christopher Cornell, graduate student
- Garrett Lane, graduate student
- Nathan Gibbs, assistant professor of multimedia and journalism
- Laurent Nlemba, graduate student
- Evans Ngoge, graduate student
- Ryan Jessup, assistant professor of management
- David Kneip, assistant professor of Bible
- Kristian Travis, staff
- Vicente Rojas Aguirre, graduate student
- Wes Erickson, graduate student
The women’s teams are working just as hard. Christiana Cha, a staff worker from Portland, Oregon, is ready to start the season with her team, Chats Sauvages. Her team strategy is to let each girl have the opportunity to play, bond and work together. Christiana Cha said, “I got a group of girls together that I might not have met otherwise.”
