{"id":4995,"date":"2016-02-03T15:41:24","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T20:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/?page_id=4995"},"modified":"2016-02-03T15:59:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T20:59:03","slug":"sports-fest-gives-residential-students-chance-to-compete-in-two-day-meet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/our-reporting\/sports-fest-gives-residential-students-chance-to-compete-in-two-day-meet\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports Fest gives residential students chance to compete in two-day meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted February 3, 2016<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By KATIE HOVAN<\/p>\n

UM\u2019s Residential Colleges will sponsor the 31st<\/sup> annual Sports Fest competition on Feb. 12-13.<\/p>\n

Sports Fest gives students living in residential colleges on campus the opportunity to compete against one another in a series of events, including canoe races, soccer matches and tug-of-war challenges. The events will use modified rules from intramural sports on campus.<\/p>\n

Beginning in 1986 as a rivalry between freshman dormitories Hecht and Stanford, Sports Fest is one of UM\u2019s greatest student life traditions. Today, Housing and Residential Life (HRL) funds the two-day event.<\/p>\n

Though Sports Fest started as a small event, beverage companies like Coca-Cola and Red Bull have even recently sponsored it in years past.<\/p>\n

Tom Soria, assistant director of Intramurals and director of Camp at UM, has been coordinating the event for longer than he can remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my 10th or 11th Sports Fest,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd they all start to blend together after a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soria explained how much time actually goes into planning an event like Sports Fest, which has become one of the biggest student life events on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know all the logistics,\u201d Soria explained. \u201cBut the committee is actually comprised of students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sports Fest Committee consists of two students from each residential college and several HRL faculty members. The committee is responsible for voting on which events will remain part of Sports Fest each year. At the end of Sports Fest, the committee members will act as judges to vote on awards like sportsmanship and spirit.<\/p>\n

In addition, Soria and his committee begin planning Sports Fest each year about four months in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start planning in late September or early October, and all the planning is done during the fall semester,\u201d Soria said. \u201cEverything had to be done before we left for break, so there have been times where we had to meet on a reading day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olivia Gassner, a committee member representing Mahoney Residential College, also stressed how extensive the Sports Fest planning process has been.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the fall semester we met every Monday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in a conference room\u201d Gassner explained. \u201cWe would vote on the events we wanted to\u00a0definitely\u00a0keep, and then from there, vote on which\u00a0events to get rid of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Committee members are also responsible for promoting the events to students living in the dorms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe present the promotional Sports Fest video on all the televisions in the dorms,\u201d Gassner said. \u201cAnd the RAs should really push the sign-up in Eaton because it houses freshmen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectations are for there to be overall more participation, especially in the upperclassman dorms,\u201d Gassner added.<\/p>\n

Emily Hunter, an Eaton resident and transfer student from the University of Kentucky, is new to student life at UM, but said she is excited to participate in Sports Fest for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never participated in anything like this before,\u201d she said. \u201cI even decided to sign myself and few of my friends up for tug-of-war, because I heard it\u2019s a pretty big event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter added, \u201cIt\u2019s also kind of nice to have an event that students who aren\u2019t on an actual UM sports team get to participate in and enjoy.\u201c<\/p>\n

Despite its name and competitive nature, Sports Fest isn\u2019t just for students who like sports. Both Soria and Gassner believe the event brings other benefits to the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to have events that all people can participate in,\u201d Soria explained. \u201cThere\u2019s even table tennis for the international students and the video games can be for students who may be physically impaired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soria also takes pride in Sports Fest\u2019s ability to uphold UM traditions and values.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s a long lasting tradition that helps retain students with a sense of belonging,\u201d Soria added. \u201cIt\u2019s the stuff they do outside the classroom that helps them stay at the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gassner personally admires the event\u2019s ability create a sense of unity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be a part of Sports Fest because it reminded me of high school sports, which I cherished,\u201d Gassner said. \u201cI really saw it bring together the whole campus and\u00a0especially\u00a0the freshman dorms.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Sports Fest will begin with a canoe race at 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, and will conclude at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the closing ceremonies on the Intramural Fields.<\/p>\n

The sign-up deadline is on Jan. 29 for students who still wish to participate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted February 3, 2016 By KATIE HOVAN UM\u2019s Residential Colleges will sponsor the 31st annual Sports Fest competition on Feb. 12-13. Sports Fest gives students living in residential colleges on campus the opportunity to compete against one another in a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":46,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4995","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4995"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5002,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4995\/revisions\/5002"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}