New UCLA Recreation sports, kickball and seven-on-seven soccer, attract more students to Intramural Field
Co-ed kickball team “Suck my Kick” poses on the Intramural Field after its prom-themed game. UCLA Recreation introduced kickball this year.
Courtesy of Ryan Gilmore
By Susana Vasquez
May 22, 2012 2:29 a.m.
First-year materials science engineering student Ryan Gilmore stepped onto the Intramural Field to play the newly introduced seven-on-seven soccer during winter quarter.
Ten weeks later, he showed up along with seven other individuals for kickball.
The majority of sports introduced by UCLA Recreation in the past have become overwhelmingly popular. This year, the program decided to add seven-on-seven soccer and kickball to increase the number of options for students playing intramural sports.
The lack of specialized equipment and highly skill-based positions makes kickball a perfect sport to supplement the intramural sports program.
Suck my Kick, captained by Gilmore, is one of the co-rec teams that decided to try out the new sport.
To add some flavor to its matches, the team chooses a different theme to follow each week.
They went from being prom queens and kings to gangsters, all in the name of kickball.
The team’s distinctive and creative personality perfectly suits the new sport that UCLA Recreation introduced to its schedule this spring quarter.
Gilmore expressed how kickball has made the members of the team closer.
“We already knew each other, so we are kind of getting to know each other even better through this,” Gilmore said.
“Since the second week we’ve been trying to do little themes and dress up to make it more fun. It’s just fun. We can come out here and play for 40 minutes or something, and we kind of get to know each other and get a little bit of exercise.”
Program Director and Assistant Dean of students Jason Zeck is pleased to see that teams are able to participate in the social aspect of IM sports as well as the competitive.
“Our main goal as an intramural sports program is we want to provide a recreational opportunity for students to stay active in sports,” Zeck said.
While kickball emphasizes the social nature of sports, requiring little to no skill, seven-on-seven soccer tends to be more competitive.
It requires participants to play at a high intensity level because it attracts students who have already had a background playing the sport and want to continue developing their skills.
First-year political science student Jesse Hernandez decided to join intramural soccer to continue playing the sport he was always passionate about.
“We were pretty good because they all played soccer when they were small and in high school,” Hernandez said.
“That is one of the reasons why I joined it because it was them and the fact that we all knew how to play, and we all know the sport.”
The recreational program decided to introduce seven-on-seven soccer to combat the problem many students faced of being unable to put together full soccer teams, usually consisting of 11 players per side.
Seven-on-seven soccer was added in winter quarter and is gaining popularity, according to Zeck.
“Soccer is one of our most popular sports,” Zeck said.
“I think the greatest success with seven vs. seven is (that) it allowed teams to participate that may not have been able to participate on 11 vs. 11 soccer because they couldn’t find enough people to form a team.”
Highlighting the recreational nature of intramural sports rather than the competitive aspect has been a long-standing goal of the UCLA Recreation program.
While Hernandez joined IM sports for soccer, his experience has allowed him to appreciate the social nature of sports.
“It feels like a community together ““ UCLA and then put them in the IM field. You share a passion for soccer or you share a passion for football or anything,” Hernandez said. “So it brings this community that is already close, closer.”
