Recreation Services provides a variety of intramural sports including flag football, bowling, soccer, ultimate frisbee, softball, tennis, sand volleyball, indoor volleyball and racquetball. The newest addition to the fall roster is battleship.

Battleship made an appearance for the first time last fall as a special event in the Student Aquatics Center. According to the assistant director of Recreation Services Jennifer Rose, nine teams formed to participate in the event.

The sport required teams of four to use three-gallon buckets to try to sink the opponents' canoe. To defend their canoe from the buckets of water, the players were given a yoga mat. Battleship will appear as another one-night special event in fall as well as in the spring.

Southeast students, faculty, alumni and community members who have a recreation membership are able to register, though in the past the majority of players have been students.

Students who play a sport at Southeast have specific rules to follow when signing up for an intramural team. There are certain NCAA guidelines as well as intramural guidelines that athletes must follow. Athletes are prohibited to form a team that is similar to the sport the student plays or that is the same sport. Rose said that each coach has their own rules, and some prohibit their athletes from participating at all.

Anyone of any skill level is eligible to play in individual and team sports. Groups can be organized within residence halls, Greek organizations and individual groups. If any person cannot form a team on their own, the intramural sports organizers can help place him or her on a team.

Rose said that every sport ranges between five to 60 teams and that the bigger sports, such as softball, flag football and softball, usually have 50 to 60 teams.

Anyone who wishes to register a team can do so at imleagues.com/semo, and the captain of the intramural team has to pass a rules test before the team can register. This is mandatory to ensure that the regulations are understood by the players. As long as the captain registers by the deadline, the team is allowed to participate in a league, even if the team roster isn't completed.

The sports are divided into two leagues, with the black league available for more advanced players and the red league for people who wish to play for recreational means. Greek organizations have their own specific division for intramural sports.

Every player is required to bring their Southeast ID to every game they are scheduled to play. In the case of bad weather, Recreation Services won't make any announcements about game cancellations or changes until after 3 p.m. the day of the scheduled game.

"It's a great way to get involved on campus," Rose said.

Rose believes that it's an opportunity for students to continue playing something they love, to try something new and to create friendships that could last for a lifetime.

To qualify for the playoffs, teams must attend a manager's meeting, must not have forfeited during the season or have two defaults, attain the minimum number of players needed for the sport and have at least a 1.75 sportsmanship rating given out by the officials.

For more information about the intramural sport program, interested parties can contact Rose at jrose@semo.edu.