Intramurals

The Journey in Creating Participant Expectations

July 04th, 2011

Judith Sperling
Assistant Director – Risk Management, Training & Development
UCLA Recreation

The ‘Participant Expectations’ was a project of UCLA Recreation’s Risk Management Team. Team members were often confronted by participants who could not be reasonably coached in complying with facility use and safety policies. Some participants did not have a relationship with the campus where they knew about or shared our community values and commitment to safety. We realized that we had not been successful in conveying what being a part of UCLA Recreation meant. Use of facilities and participating in programs was a privilege worth having and we needed to communicate our campus’ vision of a cooperative and tolerant community.
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“HEY REF YOU SUCK!”

June 02nd, 2011

Developing Learning Outcomes in Intramural Sports
to Address Unsporting Behavior

Kurt D. Klier, CRSS
Intramural Sports Director
Campus Recreation Services
University of Maryland

How many times have we, as intramural professionals, had to deal with unsporting behavior? Is the time we spend training our students on how to deal with comments such as “hey ref you suck” effective? How do we know? Developing Learning Outcomes for Intramural Sports may seem superfluous but they will be an invaluable tool in understanding and documenting what your student employees are learning. As Student Affairs employees, we believe that the scope of learning is not limited to the classroom; rather, it involves all aspects of a student’s experience, including Intramural Sports.

First, it is important to determine the relevance of your Outcomes as they relate to the mission statement and/or strategic plan of the University or Program. We determined that effectively managing unsporting behavior supports the core values of Campus Recreation Services, to ‘develop students and professional staff’ and to ‘promote safety and minimize risk.’  The goal also contributes to one aspect of the Mission of the Division of Student Affairs to ‘…promote student development.’

Secondly, after you develop your Learning Outcomes have someone else review them. Choose a fellow recreational colleague, a colleague outside recreation who has knowledge and understanding of Learning Outcomes, or choose a student. Have them review what you developed and determine if they can understand and reproduce your outcomes. The process of having someone review what you developed will help you determine if the Learning Outcomes are clear.

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RISK MANAGEMENT IN INTRAMURAL SPORTS

May 12th, 2011

RISK MANAGEMENT IN INTRAMURAL SPORTS

Matt Campbell
J.D. Candidate ‘08
DePaul University College of Law

‘No school ID, no play.’ ‘No jewelry.’ ‘Sign the waiver.’
‘Fill out an incident report for any injuries or altercations.’

Every campus recreation professional recites these intramural mantras at student staff training, but is there an understanding as to why these rules are in place?

This article seeks to help intramural professionals provide their student staff with answers as to why recreational programs must maintain rigorous policies. It will also identify risk management concerns in intramural sports in order to eliminate unnecessary risks and mitigate those which are unavoidable.

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Accident Insurance

April 07th, 2011

Accident Insurance for Intramurals, Sport Clubs and Youth Camps

Summit America, the NIRSA Insurance provider, handles Insurance for a large number of NIRSA institutions.

For more details:  Summit America Accident Insurance