The second season of Rec sports is currently underway at the Rec Center. This season will consist of team handball, 7 vs. 7 flag football, 5 vs. 5 basketball, spike ball, and cricket.

Season one was kind of a trial period for the people over at Charger Rec because the program introduced a new open league along with pod scheduling. There have been some mixed reviews from participants over the pod scheduling.

“I think the idea of pod scheduling was a great idea initially, however due to the fact that there are multiple sports played on the same night it causes issues with teams that are playing multiple sports in the same pod time” said junior Ryan Lessman, who is an active member of rec sports, and has been a student referee in the past.

For those who are not familiar with pod scheduling, it is a system that allows rec sports teams to play one sport at the same time every week. Teams that sign up for one sport a season have enjoyed the new system, but for those who play multiple sports it is a frustrating system.

“I play multiple sports, and I feel there are more scheduling conflicts now than there were before” said junior James Maiorana who played hockey, racquetball, and soccer in season one.

The playoff system was also new for season one. Only the top four teams made the playoffs in each division, and it made for some great competition. The new playoff system has had an effect on the regular season because now teams were less likely to forfeit or default a game because it might interfere with their playoff chances.

Season two is one of the most popular seasons rec sports has to offer because it features 7 vs. 7 flag football and 5 vs. 5 basketball. These two sports unite everyone from freshman to graduate students in the chase for the highly coveted rec sports champion three quarter sleeve shirt.

Team handball, cricket, and spike ball are more of an acquired taste, but participants still enjoy these sports when they come around. One common similarity between most of season two’s sports is most of these sports need precise refereeing in order to ensure fair play.

With that being said, one of the biggest complaints about rec sports has been about the student referees. The Rec Center requires training sessions for student referees, and then hires them based on their performance.

“I feel like they make an effort to do their job properly, but sometimes they are too timid to make important calls when it counts the most” said sophomore Edwin Mora.

Knowing the rules and having the confidence to make a call is really important when it comes to refereeing a highly competitive game of football or basketball.

“Most of (the referees) know their stuff, but the majority of them lack sufficient knowledge of the games they are refereeing” Mora said.

There have been plenty of instances where this rule deficiency has reared its ugly head.

Mora said, “Last handball season my team got disqualified from a regular season game because the referees had told us that we exceeded the team foul limit. In handball only an individual player can foul out, not the whole team. They ended up giving us a bad sportsmanship rating and we got disqualified from the playoffs. If the referee had known the rules, this incident would not have happened.”

It has yet to be seen if this problem will be fixed, but it is vital for both the quality and participation in Rec sports.  

In the race for the Charger Cup there are currently four teams in the running. Dawg Pound is in the lead after season one accumulating a total of 660 points. Reigning champions Swat Team are in second place with 575 points. The Bandits are in third with 535 points. Finally, New Era is in fourth place with 310 points.