There are so many activities on campus, yet not as many participants as there were a few years ago.

Of the many activities hosted by OSAL, one activity they are focusing on is intramural sports. Open to all students, faculty, staff and alumni, it is a way for registered teams to compete in basketball or volleyball for trophies and bragging rights.

Makerusa “Mak” Porotesano, director of student activities and leadership, is the only staff member who is participating in volleyball and basketball while Shane Kumashiro, graduate assistant for New Student Programs, joins Porotesano in basketball.

“I think intramural sports are a great way to meet new people and experience healthy competition,” said Desiree Yamase, an OSAL graduate assistant.

This year’s intramural sports featured about 32 students in volleyball that were divided into four teams. Basketball currently has approximately 60 students who are divided into eight teams.

Maimoa Fineisaloi, Chaminade’s community service coordinator, started at Chaminade as an undergraduate in Fall 2003 and played intramural sports. All four years, Fineisaloi played coed volleyball; she played in her first year because her “friends needed a setter and had to follow the rule where a girl had to touch the volleyball before it went over the net.” After her first year, she continued to play because her residents (she was a Resident Assistant) wanted to play.

Fineisaloi’s experience in intramural sports is different than it is today. She remembers many people going to participate in the intramural sports offered as well as to cheer on participants. She also remembers flag football being offered.

This past spring, Fineisaloi took part in the Big Island Immersion during spring break, a week where students learn more about the Hawaiian culture. While there, Fineisaloi met three students who were playing intramural sports. During that week, these students were trying to figure out ways to make school spirit as strong as it was when Fineisaloi was an undergraduate. She told them to “support each other.”

A reason Fineisaloi thinks that sports are not as supported as they were when she was an undergraduate is because of social media. While Myspace did exist, sites like Facebook and Twitter weren’t the phenomenon that it is today.

OSAL has made one of its goals to re-start, as well as expand, its softball and flag football intramural leagues. Porotesano has also invited faculty and staff to participate in intramural sports.

Other Hawai`i colleges have a myriad of intramural sports to choose from. For example, Brigham Young University (in Hawai`i) has articles on its website about intramurals, including: ping pong, racquetball, tennis, volleyball, basketball and badminton.

The University of Hawai`i at Manoa also has intramural sports in men’s and women’s soccer, coed indoor soccer, men’s and women’s volleyball, coed volleyball, coed basketball and softball. University of Hawaii uses IMLeagues, a website that’s “free,” has “no contracts, no commitments,” and “unrivaled support.”

OSAL has attainable goals and wants more students, faculty and staff to participate in intramural sports.