Rec Sports season one is currently underway at the Rec Center. The season will consist of flag football, cricket, and 3v3 basketball. This lineup of sports has changed from previous years because of changes going on at the Rec Center.

“We decided to make some schedule adjustments within the department this year” said Maria Tonry, assistant director of campus recreation. “I looked at the statistics and participation from last year and spoke with my staff and we decided to try some new events. We are not ruling out bringing back past events but are trying to see what the new trends and events are across the country and keep the department relevant and fresh.”

The Rec Center brass is also switching up which sports are played in each season. In the past, one sport was played in one season, and that sport was the highlight of the season. Due to popular demand, flag football and cricket will be played in both seasons.   

“I decided to try flag football and cricket out for the full length of season 1 and 2 for two reasons” said Tonry. “First, they are two of our most popular sports, so extending the season allows participants to have more games. Second because of the field schedule, we are not able to play at Kathy Zolad Stadium on Wednesday nights in season one, so we only have two nights of flag football”.  

In the past, serious teams competed for the Charger Cup. Teams earned points for participation, wins, and championships. In the end, the team with the most points won a banner that was hung off the track in the Rec Center. The Charger Cup has been removed from the Rec Sports agenda for the 2018-19 school year, because of declining interest and participation. Last year, only three teams signed up, and two dropped out midway through the season.      

“We will be taking a break from the Charger Cup this year, we are excited about a lot of our new events and collaborations across campus and putting our effort and focus into those” said Tonry. “With dwindling interest in the Charger Cup, we felt our efforts would be better used elsewhere this year.”

Along with the revamped sports schedule, Rec Center officials have also implemented a new way for teams to reschedule and cancel games they are scheduled to play. It replaces the old system where the captain of a team had to send an email to the ChargerRec account and have a supervisor contact both teams to reschedule.  

“We have a new reschedule and cancelation procedure that we are excited about this year” said Tonry. “The policy will be the same, where participants must reschedule at least 48 hours before their game and cancel by 4:00 pm on the day of the game. But the procedure to reschedule and cancel will all be through IMLeagues.com now.Participants will be able to see instructional videos right on IMLeagues.com to let them know how to complete these reschedules and cancel requests.”

The final change to the Rec Sports program is the new policy on the captain’s quiz. In order to make a team in each sport, captains must take a quiz that tests their knowledge of the rules of the sport, as well as Rec Sports policy. In the past, captains had to get 85 percent or higher to get their team registered. This year, captains must pass the quiz with a perfect score.

Rec Sports season one will kick off Sept. 17 and end Oct. 11. Season two will begin on Nov 5.