Sports for all
An opportunity to play sports just for fun
Every student in their university life strives for a holistic experience that includes every aspect of university life and all the amenities that it has to offer. The University of Regina continues to offer different facilities and spaces to its students to serve this purpose. For students who do not get a chance to explore sports during high school due to its cutthroat competitive nature or otherwise, intramurals – now called Rec Sports, comes to their rescue.
Rec Sports is an avenue that welcomes all University of Regina students, including Luther College, Campion College, and First Nations University of Canada, to be a part of the sport of their choice. They offer a plethora of options like three-on-three ice hockey, badminton, basketball, cornhole, cricket, dodgeball, e-sports, soccer, spikeball, ultimate frisbee, and volleyball. Rec Sports is also open to Saskatchewan Polytech students for a fee of $15 prior to the start of the season. Their website outlines that for Polytech students, “This is in addition to the fee you pay for your team or to be a free agent. This is because Sask Polytech students do not pay a rec and athletic fee, which is automatically included in the fees of UofR students.”
Due to their recent name change, Rec Sports has observed familiarity among students as “it’s a little more descriptive of what it actually is,” according to Alison Fisher, Coordinator of Student and Youth Programming for the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies. “It’s a way for students to participate in sports that they love in a competitive or recreational environment that allows them to play in university and take a brain break, and get their bodies moving which is really important.”
Fisher delves deeper into the reasoning of the name update as “people didn’t know what Intramurals is” and to meet the purpose of getting the message across campus for students, making it relevant and meaningful for students was crucial. The deadline for registration ends on Sep 13 with the league starting on the week of Sep 18. “We do have people sign up late and if we are able to accommodate, we do,” said Fisher. “Volleyball, basketball and dodgeball is really hard for us to add teams in after that deadline unless it’s the next day.”
Allowing sports for all, Rec Sports is open to any student, international or domestic, who are enrolled at the University of Regina in at least one class. They also let faculty and staff be a part of the league. This nature of allowing it for everyone who wishes to enjoy sports is motivational to play and explore the athletic side of oneself. It gives everyone a chance to take a break from the normative daily routine and improve mental and physical health. “Our only eligibility requirement that would prevent you from playing is that if you are playing in the men’s or women’s cougars basketball league, you cannot play in our basketball league; it’s just not fair,” said Fisher. This is to allow students who have little to no experience to play in a sports league instead of competing with highly trained individuals competing with the Cougars. “It’s not fair to our students who want to play recreational or for fun against people who play at a very high level.”
They have added three-on-three ice hockey as well as unified cornhole as new additions to the different sports that they offer. Unlike other sports leagues, there aren’t tryouts to be eligible for the team. “You can make your own team or sign up as a free agent or an individual and we help you get on a team.”
Navigating and playing the desired sport in a team appears very seamless through Rec Sports too. “Once you’ve registered and gotten on a team, your schedule will be posted before the assigned night. You can show up and play. You have to sign out equipment using ID and someone on the team could do that, not every person needs to do it.” All students pay a small fee to cover staff costs and other miscellaneous maintenance depending on the size of their team, more details on which are available on their website For further information, they can be reached out through social media platforms.
Meeting people and maintaining those relationships during university can be tough due to being in different programs and lack of communication. Rec Sports addresses this by giving every student the chance to socialise and network with people around them. “It’s a great way to socialise and meet new people and play sport you love. It gives you designated times and spaces for you to play that sport,” said Fisher about the benefits of playing through Rec Sports.
Moving forward, Fisher mentioned about the mental well-being of playing sports during university life as a way of getting out from one’s comfort zone and do it together in a group. “The biggest thing is personal wellness. It’s great for mental health and getting your body active, especially during finals students want to take that break and just get away from the books and play something that they love. That is the biggest benefit that we can offer. We do prizes like player of the week, MVP at the end. There are swags involved too,” added Fisher.
Rec Sports continues to accommodate not only by skills but by being an open league for any gender to enrich student life and bring the best out in all.
