Groups use intramurals as intro to campus

Coming to a large campus such as IU can be intimidating, especially when your first experiences include intensive summer classes. The members of the Groups program can verify that. In an attempt to ease the transition into college life, the intramurals programs has teamed up with Groups leaders for the fifth straight year to offer teams to these future IU grads.\nGroups is a program designed to help first-generation college students with their initial transition to college as well as other obstacles they may meet down the road. Last week, approximately 300 students moved into Teter Quad with the hope of getting acclimated to the campus, Bloomington and college classes. RecSports, which is in charge of intramural programs at IU, also hopes to become a part of their initial impression of campus.\n“It’s a way for us to introduce incoming students to RecSports,” said intramurals graduate assistant Brian Arnold. “It also gives them a way to break up their day.”\nBecause the Groups program involves academic classes, intramurals are offered as an attempt to reduce stress and give the soon-to-be freshmen a break from the classroom. James Bigsbee, the current student advisor and Groups summer program alumnus, said this is one of the greatest benefits of the program.\n“It allows (the students) to relieve stress because Groups, to me, is harder than the academic year,” Bigsbee said. “(They) do a lot of work and (they’re) constantly moving and (they) need to find a positive way to relieve stress and RecSports to me is that avenue.”\nRyan Hester, a member of Groups’ newest class, said he is looking forward to participating in intramurals.\n“(I look forward to) having a great time, enjoying myself, making sure I get a lot of exercise and trying to get fit,” he said. \nThis summer session, RecSports is offering six sports: basketball, extreme dodgeball, outdoor kickball, softball, tennis and water volleyball. Hester said he is already excited to participate in two particular sports.\n“(Extreme) dodgeball sounds like fun,” Hester said. “And maybe basketball, too.”