Campus Connection

For those who have participated in intramural sports, the faces of seniors Lindsey Rongstad and Brett Simon are likely familiar. The two have been refereeing various sports for the past four years. This year, they stepped up into the newly created student coordinator positions. They work alongside a graduate assistant and the intramural sports coordinator to make up the administrative team for intramural sports. “Brett and I are basically a graduate assistant without being graduate students,” says Rongstad. Part of their role also includes training the officials for all of the sports. “We start with an icebreaker so they understand who everyone is and specifically who Lindsey and I are,” says Simon. “Then we move into the rules they need to know, penalties, enforcement, signals — if they’re involved. Basically everything they need to know.” Freshman Jake Seifert jumped right into intramural officiating. For several years, he’s refereed a variety of sports, starting with baseball when he was in 8th grade. He says the training opportunities are similar to what he gets in the outside associations and really help people break into officiating, especially “getting the nerves away.” The student coordinators have faced some small hurdles, mostly scheduling problems, but nothing major. Want to get involved with intramurals? Send them an email! Become an official Another opportunity to get involved is with the Student Officials Association. The group helps students get certified to be referees for community competitions, including with the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) and Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). They also help students find opportunities for local tournaments, especially at the youth and middle school levels.