Female students aren’t taking part in intramural activities as much as their male counterparts, according to statistics from last year at Texas A&M University – Commerce.
According to statistics from last year’s intramurals, there were only 131 female participants in flag football, as compared to the 323 male participants. Other sports had similar male-to-female participation ratios, ranging from 2-to-1 or 3-to-1.
Most of the female students that participated in intramural activities were members of organizations such as sororities, according to Mike Chadee, assistant director of intramurals at the Morris Recreation Center.
“The majority of women are the sororities that are involved in intramurals. Of the five women’s teams taking part in flag football this year, four are sororities and the other is a team made up of Morris Recreation Center employees,” Chadee said.
Co-ed intramural numbers lag far behind the men’s numbers as well, but Chadee attributes this to the increase in games team members would be required to play.
“It’s hard, schedule-wise, to do because people are already playing two games a week if they’re on a men’s or women’s team, and playing on a co-rec team adds another two games a week. We’re considering having only one game a week, though,” Chadee said.
Chadee and his staff have a few ideas on increasing female participation rates in intramural activities in the future.
“Right now, we’re trying to figure out if it’s certain events we’re offering,” Chadee said. “One of the best ways to increase participation in intramurals is through co-rec, but there you’re still relying on men to participate, too.”
Katie Barthold, a kinesiology student at A&M – C, welcomed Chadee’s ideas.
“I think it’d be more fun to play on a co-ed team than a women’s team, because having guys on the team may help girls, because they probably have more experience playing football,” Barthold said. “It’d just be more fun to play with your friends, regardless of whether they’re male or female.”
To females on campus who aren’t sure if they’d like to participate, Chadee said, “I’d want to challenge women to make the first move to build the co-rec division. The Greek division is filled with women watching on the sidelines at the games, but few of them actually play.”
The Greek organizations on campus were enticed to take part in co-ed intramural teams at the beginning of the school year, according to Chadee. The organizations were all given the option of forming co-ed teams and any points earned in a co-ed league count toward their Fraternity and Sorority Cup points, but no one signed up.
“None of the Greeks ended up forming co-rec teams, as fraternities assumed the sororities would sign up, and sororities assumed the fraternities would sign the teams up,” Chadee said.
All league sports – flag football, soccer and volleyball – offer the option of co-ed teams. Registration for soccer and volleyball ends on Oct. 16 and Oct. 28, respectively. An entry fee of $20 is required for participation in league sports.
The two tournament sports – dodge ball and 3 on 3 basketball – also offer co-ed teams and have a $10 entry fee. Registration for basketball ends on Oct. 9; dodge ball registration ends Oct. 30.