After the winter break, Recreation Sports will be offering the Get Rec’d Night on Feb. 5, a 5-on-5 basketball league starting on Feb. 11 and a racquetball tournament on Feb. 24. Sac State students, faculty and staff with a valid one card are eligible to participate in the events.

Rec Sports Head Coordinator, Ken Morton said that Get Rec’d Night is the “welcome back event and semester kickoff.” It will be a free event held inside of Yosemite Hall rooms 100 and 171.

“We will have a dodgeball tournament and hopefully will have some fitness class demos and maybe sport or recreational club demos in another part of the building,” Morton said. “Depending on whether we receive grant funds from University Enterprises, Inc. this time, we may have free pizza as well. Teams are eight players per team and we can take as many as we get. Hopefully we’ll break the 50 team mark.”

Morton said that the event has only been called “Get Rec’d Night” since last year. “We offered a dodgeball tourney (last year) and have offered kickball and whiffle ball in the past, but dodgeball seems to be the best. It gets more people and keeps play moving faster.”

He said that the goal of Get Rec’d Night is to highlight involvement and advertise the other events Rec Sports will be offering next semester. Rec Sports will offer an outdoor soccer tournament, a volleyball league, a flag football league, a golf tournament and an End of the Year Blowout event.

“A one day event does not have as much of a positive impact on a student as does participation in a full intramural league, fitness class or sport and recreational clubs,” Morton said.

He said that the event has attracted a diverse crowd in the past. “We have many student clubs compete together as well as residential halls. We have had fraternities, sororities, and departmental clubs such as PE majors, Field Biology, athletic teams and of course, individuals. We just seem to have a lot of people having a great time, even when they don’t win,” Morton said.

Last year’s winner in the dodgeball tournament was a team composed mostly of Rec Sports employees, while second place went to Tau Kappa Epsilon.

“(The Rec Sports team) won a few dodgeball titles, so everyone was gunning for them. It was fun to hear the trash talking because nobody is serious about it in this sport; it truly is about having fun,” said Morton.

The last day to sign-up for the 5-on-5 basketball league is Feb. 6 by 5 p.m. and the cost is $40 per team or $7 per individual. Each team will play four to six regular season games followed by a single elimination playoff tournament to crown the champion. Before the playoffs begin, Rec Sports will be putting on a Basketball Blowout event on March 6 that will have all-stars from the league participate in a three-point shooting contest and a dunk contest.

Games will be played Monday through Thursday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Rec Sports tries to cater to participants’ school and work schedules. When teams or individuals register to play in league, Rec Sports has them request a time and day during the week that works best for them.

“Generally speaking, the more competitive leagues are held at the later time slots, but that’s not always the case. Leagues are set up at a first come, first serve basis. A women’s league or co-ed league always has the option of playing at a later time too. They just need to sign-up first before all the late slots are snatched up by the men’s leagues,” said Rec Sports Assistant Coordinator.

Rec Sports Supervisor of Officials Jivin Seward trains the referees that will be used for the league and said that participants will see improvements in them this year.

“Look forward to better and more competent refs. The competition is already good in the league and gets better every year,” said Seward.

Seward played for the winning team for men’s division in the 5-on-5 basketball league last year, “The Entity.”

There were more than 50 teams last year that played in the league with each team carrying around seven or eight players. McCallum said that this year there are 72 team slots available; six leagues that include 12 teams a piece.

“We are always aiming to max out our leagues while increasing our women’s and co-ed league participation numbers,” said McCallum.

McCallum said there are teams in the league that are very competitive and there are teams that just want to play and have a good time.

“The goal is to provide a fun and energetic experience for all participants regardless of their abilities,” said McCallum.

The last day to sign-up for the racquetball tournament is Feb. 22 by 5 p.m. The cost to play is $2 per person and McCallum said that Rec Sports will allow as many people who want to play to participate in the tournament.

“We are hoping to get a good turnout, between 16 to 32 people minimum,” said McCallum. “We also hope that this tournament helps the racquetball club generate interest and raise membership.”

This year marks the first time Rec Sports will be offering a racquetball tournament as an event.

“I’m looking forward to teaching our student supervisors a new sport, and most of all, getting students involved in the Rec Sports program who have never been involved before,” said McCallum.

“Our goal is to keep participation high so that when (Rec Sports) goes into the brand new Recreational Center in a few years, we will have a successful program to bring with it,” said Seward.

Seward will be graduating in the fall of ’08 and said that he has had a great personal experience being involved with Rec Sports, both participating in events and working for the program.

“When I first went to school (at Sac State) I didn’t know too many people,” said Seward. “Once I started getting involved with Rec Sports, I started making new friends with people that shared similar interests. It keeps everyone active in a social atmosphere.”

Andrew Eggers can be reached at [email protected]