Great Programs

Intramural sports are open to current St. Mary's University students, faculty and staff, and it is easy to get involved. For team sports, it is best to put a team together with people you know from classes, residence halls, campus organizations, etc. If you want to play and do not have a team, free agents meetings are held for all major sports to create teams. This is a great way to meet new people, make new friends and enjoy your college experience. Individual tournaments are also offered to test your skills against other members of the St. Mary's family.

Spring Sports

• Men's Basketball
• Women's Basketball
• Co-Rec Basketball
• Table Tennis
• Women's Volleyball
• Co-Rec Soccer
• Co-Rec Volleyball
• Men's Soccer

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles).

The game of badminton is superficially similar to that of tennis. Players at opposite ends of the court aim to hit a shuttlecock, more informally called a birdie, over the net so that it lands inside the marked boundaries of the court, and aim to prevent their opponents from doing the same. Unlike a tennis ball, the shuttlecock flies with a lot of drag, and will not bounce significantly. The shuttlecock is always volleyed, and a point ends as soon as it touches the ground. Badminton racquets have long handles, to make it easier to impart a great deal of momentum to overcome the drag. The racquets are also much lighter than tennis racquets, because the shuttlecock is light. Badminton is the fastest sport in the world with shuttles reaching speeds of up to 332 km/h. Fu Haifeng of China set the unofficial record July 3, 2005.

Although the size of a badminton court is smaller than that of a tennis court, the distance run by a player in a match is usually much greater than that in tennis. This is due, in part, to the fact that the entire court must be covered by the player as the shuttlecock is not allowed to bounce before being returned. Also, the rallies of each point tend to be much longer than tennis. This is true even though winning a 'shutout' match in badminton requires only winning 30 points (15-0, 15-0, in a Men's Single match) whereas in tennis it would require 72 points (6-0, 6-0, 6-0). The game of badminton may look easy to play, but it can be physically more tiring than tennis since the tennis ball travels at a much slower speed as compared to a shuttlecock. Speed, reaction, and endurance are all important to being a successful badminton player. From a fitness perspective a close comparison can be made to squash which also has the same explosive starts.

As in tennis, there are typically five events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles (each pair is composed of one man and one woman)

Basketball

Basketball is a sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points by throwing a ball through a hoop (the basket) under organized rules.

Since its invention in 1891, by James Naismith, it has developed to become a truly international sport. It originated in the YMCA; early leagues were formed in colleges. Basketball eventually became a professional sport, and organizations such as the National Basketball Association developed. It gained Olympic status in 1936 and, even though it was originally an American sport, it quickly spread internationally and outstanding players and teams are found today all over the world.

Basketball is primarily an indoor sport, played in a relatively small playing area (the court). Points are scored for passing the ball through the basket from above (shooting); the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling) or passing it between teammates. Advantageous personal contact (fouls) is not permitted and there are restrictions on how the ball can be handled (violations).

Through time, basketball has developed to involve common techniques of shooting, passing and dribbling, as well as players' positions (which are not legally required) and offensive and defensive structures. Height is considered advantageous. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, variations have developed for casual play. Basketball is also a popular spectator sport.

Variations and similar games

Variations of basketball are activities based on the game of basketball, utilizing common basketball skills and equipment (primarily the ball and basket). Some variations are only superficial rules changes, while others are distinct games with varying degrees of basketball influences. Other variations include children's games, contests or activities intended to help the player reinforce skills, which may or may not have a competitive aspect. Most of the variations are played in informal settings without referees or strict rules.

Perhaps the single most common variation is the half court game. Only one basket is used, with the requirement that the ball be "cleared" - passed or dribbled outside the half-court or three-point line - whenever possession of the ball changes. Half-court games double the number of players that can utilize a court, and are sometimes required by the owner of a busy facility.

Different roster sizes

An actual competitive game of basketball can be played with as few as 2 people. The game may be referred to by the number of people on each team; a 6 player game may be referred to as "3-on-3" or "3-v-3" ("v" stands for "versus"). Each team's roster is typically the same size, but an odd number of players may force 1 team to play with 1 fewer player. Sometimes the odd player will be designated as a "switch" player, so that the offensive team always has the extra player (defense is generally considered easier to play than offense, mitigating some of the handicap of being 1 player short).

Roster sizes above 5 players per team are uncommon even in informal games, as the court generally becomes too crowded to allow movement and space to develop between players.

Flag Football

Flag football is a version of American football that is popular across the United States and Europe.

Basics of the Game

The basic rules of the game are similar to those of the professional game, but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. In most organized play, players wear a belt with flags attached (the number of flags vary from league to league) around the waist.

Like touch football, flag football was designed in an effort to minimize injuries that playing tackle football could bring. Over the years, however, contact leagues have emerged - where offensive and defensive players can block in certain zones or downfield, adding to the myriad styles of the game.

Variations of the Game

Thanks in large part to their being no dominant sanctioning organization for the sport, the game has mutated into literally dozens of variations: 9-man, 8-man, 7-man, 5-man and 4-men on a side; with kicking and punting and without; with point-after conversions (including some with 1, 2, and 3 point tries) or without; and field sizes that vary from full NFL size (120 yards long by 53 1/3 yards wide) to fields a third that size.

An important distinction is whether linemen are allowed to catch passes ("Eligible Linemen") or, as in the NFL, are not allowed to do so ("Ineligible Linemen"). Flag (and touch) football may also be divided into "contact" or "non-contact", depending on whether or not blocking is allowed; if allowed, blocking is usually restricted to the chest.

Organized flag football leagues follow a number of sets of rules; for example, variants recognized by the American Flag and Touch Football League are 9-Man Ineligible (Contact), 8-Man Eligible (Contact), 8-Man Ineligible (Contact), 7-Man Screen (Eligible, non-Contact), and 4-On-4 (Eligible, non-Contact). "Ineligible" variants typically feature three ineligible linemen, a center and two tackles.

Raquetball

Racquetball is a sport played with racquets and a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. It was invented by Joe Sobeck in 1949 incorporating rules from squash and handball. Unlike many other racquet sports, the walls, floor, and even ceiling of the racquetball court are considered in-bounds. The game is normally played by two players, though there are variations with three or even four (which can get very crowded). Two player games are called singles, three player games are typically called iron-man (2 on 1 during entire game) or cut-throat (each player take turns serving to the other 2), and four player games are called doubles.

Rules

A standard racquetball court is rectangular and is 40 feet long, 20 feet wide and 20 feet high. The court is marked by several red lines to define service and reception areas. The short line is a solid red line running the width of the court and is parallel to the front and back walls and is twenty feet from the back wall. The service line is parallel to the short line and is five feet closer to the front wall. Within the area created by these two lines (service zone), there are two sets of screen lines perpendicular to the short and service lines. The first set of screen lines are 18 inches from and parallel with the side walls and along with the short line, service line and side wall define the doubles box. 36 inches from the side wall is another set of screen lines which define the service box along with the short line and the service line. The receiving line is a dashed line five feet parallel behind the service line [1]. A player serves the ball similarly to a tennis serve. The server must stand within the service box during serve. The service receiver must stand behind the receiving line when the serve is being made. After the serve is hit by the service receiver, there are no restrictions on where players must stand.

Starting service is chosen by one of several methods including: calling which side a spun racquet on its top will fall, hitting a ball on its first bounce closest to the short line when standing near the back wall (lag), or flipping a coin.

The player who won the last point is the server. The server must bounce the ball once on the ground, then hit the ball against the front wall, then the ball either must hit the floor behind the short line directly or hit one side walls and then hit the floor behind the short line otherwise it is a fault. [2]. Once it passes the back of the service box, the ball is in play and can be returned. The server is allowed two attempts at serving before side out. If the ball strikes any surface before the front wall it is a side out.

After a successful serve players alternate hitting the ball against the front wall. The ball is allowed to bounce on the floor, at most, one time before it must hit against the front wall. The player returning the hit may allow the ball to bounce once on the floor or hit the ball before it has hit the floor. However, once the player returning the shot has hit the ball, either before bouncing on the floor or after one bounce, it must strike the front wall before it hits the ground. Unlike the serve, the ball may touch as many walls, including the ceiling, as necessary as long as it reaches the front wall without bouncing on the floor.

Points are scored only by the server, when the served ball is not returned by an opposing player, or for some of the following rules below. Professional players play best of 5 eleven-point games, requiring a two-point margin of victory. Amateur players play 2 fifteen-point games, with an eleven-point tiebreaker if necessary. It is not necessary to win by two points in amateur racquetball.

During play, the following result in the loss of rally by a player [3]

1. The ball bounces on the floor more than once before being hit.
2. The ball does not reach the front wall on the fly.
3. The ball is hit such that it goes into the gallery or wall opening or else hits a surface above the normal playing area of the court that has been declared as out-of-play [See Rule 2.1(a)].
4. A ball that obviously does not have the velocity or direction to hit the front wall strikes another player.
5. A ball struck by a player hits that player or that player's partner.
6. Committing a penalty hinder. See Rule 3.15.
7. Switching hands during a rally.
8. Failure to use a racquet wrist safety cord.
9. Touching the ball with the body or uniform.
10. Carrying or slinging the ball with the racquet.

Softball

Softball is a team sport in which a ball, eleven to twelve inches in circumference, is thrown by a player called a pitcher and hit by an offensive player called a batter with a round, smooth stick called a bat. Scoring is accomplished by the batter running and touching a series of four markers on the ground called bases. Softball is a direct descendant of baseball, which is sometimes referred to as hardball to distinguish the two, but differs from it in several ways. This article assumes no knowledge of baseball.

The sport's governing body, the International Softball Federation holds world championships, held every four years, in several categories.

Types of softball

There are three general forms of softball: slow pitch, fast pitch, and modified pitch.

• Fast Pitch softball is a very defensive, pitcher-oriented game. The pitcher delivers the ball at maximum speed with a flat arc, making the ball difficult to hit. There are many strikeouts and ground balls, and scores are low. Good pitchers are premium players.
• Slow Pitch softball gives batters more dominance by making it easier for them to hit the ball. There are two types of slow pitch softball, which use different-sized balls. A form using a larger ball, sometimes called Super-slow Pitch was written out of the official rules in 2002 but is still played informally.
• Modified Pitch softball places no restrictions on the speed of pitching; however, the technique must meet certain criteria.

In this article, unless stated otherwise, references to fast pitch include modified pitch, and references to slow pitch include the sixteen-inch form.

Table Tennis

Table tennis, also known as Ping pong (a trademarked name), is one of the most popular games in the world in terms of player numbers, as well as being one of the newest of the major sports.

General Description

The playing surface is a 9 ft × 5 ft (2.7 m × 1.5 m) hard rectangular table with the surface usually painted green, dark blue, or black. A 6 inch (15.2 cm) tall net divides the table in half (much like a tennis court) and is strung to extend 6 inches (15.2 cm) beyond the table on each side. The paddles, also known as bats or rackets, are usually about 15 cm (6 in) across and made of rubber coated plywood, although the rules specify no particular size. The 40 mm diameter ball is hard, completely hollow, lightweight and made of celluloid.

Play is fast and demands possibly the quickest reactions of any sport. A skilled player can impart spin to the ball which makes its bounce difficult to predict or return with confidence. The winner is usually the first to score 11 points, a change which occurred in 2001 when the International Rules were changed, although the 21 point game is still widely played at recreational level. All games played in U.S. national (sanctioned by USATT) and international tournaments (ITTF) are played to 11 points in either a best of five (5) games (preliminaries) or best of seven (7) games format (championship matches).

Tennis

Tennis is a racquet sport played between either two players ("singles") or two teams of two players ("doubles"). Player(s) use a stringed racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered in felt over a net into the opponent's court. In some places, tennis is still called lawn tennis, to distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis or court tennis), an older form of the game that is played indoors on a very different kind of a court. Originating in England in the late 19th Century, the game spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes.

Tennis is now an Olympic sport that is played at all levels of society and by all ages in many countries around the world. Its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the 1920s. Along with its millions of players, millions of people follow tennis as a spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments.