The hours that I have spent on the courts in Lombardi Fieldhouse have been instrumental in shaping my time at Fordham. I am an intramural athlete first, and a student second.
This is my first student athlete column, but it is not my first intramural sports team. In my three years at Fordham, I have tried every intramural sport you can imagine: kickball, basketball and flag football. Seeing as this is my third year at Fordham, I decided to give volleyball a try.
First, I asked some of my friends to join my volleyball team. When they denied me the chance to join a team that was undoubtedly headed straight for the playoffs, I turned to some of the most loyal people I know: the staff of The Fordham Ram. To fill the roster, I harassed some of my fellow staff members, including newsroom favorites like juniors Evan McManus, Sofia Donohue and Matt Colucci.
Despite joining the intramural league late, and missing the first week of games, we have improved tenfold in our time on the courts.
Even though we have lost the first and only two games that we have played so far, the referees have repeatedly complimented our team sportsmanship. Besides, as campus-renowned amazing libero McManus always says, “We play for values greater than ourselves!” In other words, who cares about the score when you are having fun with your friends.
As a team, we have overcome many challenges. For example, the intramural sports website, IMLeagues, is the most horribly designed website I have ever used. Senior Michael Sluck, who happens to be a computer science major with experience designing websites, has been quoted multiple times saying, “I can design a website better than that.”
Another issue we encountered was our first game, which we had to forfeit due to a lack of players. Or our second game, which we didn’t know about until the day of, because of the awfully designed IMLeagues website. (Special shoutout to Colucci for bringing the game to my attention!) Or our third game, which we found out about during the second game.
Listen, I don’t want to take full credit for The Rambearables losing record. But, as the team captain, they would be nothing without me. I am totally kidding; if anything, I am nothing without my dedicated team members.
Seriously though, forming an intramural team really is a great chance to hang out with your friends, meet new people and to find out who took gym class too seriously in high school.
I also have to take this opportunity to shout out The Rambearables’ most dedicated fans, Sluck and Lauren Lombardi. Your hard work cheering from the bench does not go unnoticed.
Come cheer on The Rambearables during our next game on Oct. 11. Or if you can’t make that game, we will be playing our rivals (the other Ram team who stabbed us in the back and created a team without inviting us) sometime soon.
If you take anything away from this article, it should probably be to form an intramural sports team with your friends. You will definitely laugh and have fun. Special shoutout to Sports Editors Nick and Maddie for begging me to write this column.
You’re welcome, guys! Also, if you are the creator of IMLeagues, please pursue another career.
