Interface with intramural sports on campus

As the collegiate fall sports season progresses, intramural sports are often left forgotten. While not as prominent as officially sanctioned NCAA sports or club sports, intramurals are still widely popular at many colleges. The neat thing about intramural sports is that they can contain both leagues for traditional sports, such as basketball or volleyball, and leagues for non-traditional sports like dodgeball and cornhole.

However, could students create a new intramural team if they so desired? Turns out it’s easier than one might think.

The “2024-2025 Montana State University Intramural Sports User Manual” states that intramural sports leagues can be formed by any group of students who have enough free time and are willing to pay a small registration fee. This used to be done through the third-party service IMLeagues, but MSU has switched to Fusion Play for all intramural sports services starting this semester.

According to the manual, a current student, faculty or staff member must purchase an IM Play Pass to be eligible for participation in any leagues. There are two different versions of the play pass, one for $30 that allows the holder to participate in as many leagues as desired for that semester, or a $10 version for those who only want to play in a single league or tournament.

Intramural sports at MSU are divided into mens, womens and co-ed leagues. Particular sports have blue and gold league distinctions. The manual states that blue leagues are “the most competitive league for participants looking to participate against the highest level of competition,” while gold leagues are more inclined to provide a recreational experience.

Most rosters are capped at 20 members, among other restrictions that MSU has in place to increase fairness for intramural sports. According to the manual, any team that wishes to roster club sport athletes may only include as many club athletes as 25% of the players allowed on the field — for example, if the sport is five-person volleyball, teams can only allow one club athlete on the roster.

Professional athletes are permitted to participate in intramural sports, as long as their choice of activity isn't similar to their competition sport. Meanwhile, college athletes are allowed to participate in a sport they used to compete in, provided that they are one academic year removed from play.

The manual provides guidelines for game participation as well. Before any intramural game, an athlete must provide their Catcard to an MSU intramural sports supervisor to officially check in and obtain player status. Anybody who doesn’t check in is considered a spectator and may watch the sport, but must remain clear of the team’s bench.

Currently, there are only a small handful of leagues for both soccer and volleyball, but with more sports leagues emerging, it will only become easier to get in the game.

To register for intramural sports at MSU, just download the Fusion Play app or go to their website, https://play.fusionfamily.com/login?returnUrl=%2Fhome%2Fdashboard. Once there, simply enter your MSU student email and log in just as you would on MyInfo. Then, purchase the IM Play Pass mentioned above to join a sports league.

Instructions on how to register with Fusion Play can be found at https://www.montana.edu/wellness/campus-recreation/sports/documents/Fusion%20Play%20Player%20Guide.pdf.