Proctor Light Renews Spirit in Freshman Dorm Sports

The difference can't be seen in statistics or words. It can only be seen during the game. Take the "Final Four" of the basketball series, played down at the Malkin Athletic Center, a.k.a. the MAC. The players bound up and down the court, sweat rolling down their faces. The fans stand on the sides. Their incessant screaming and cheering is interrupted only when a basket is made, at which point they wave their fists and bark in unison like dogs.

Sweat rolls down the players' backs onto their jerseys, which bear nicknames like "Slime," "Spuds," or "Schooner." Inside the Harvard seal is printed a "KICK ASS" instead of the normal "VE RI TAS". The game--intramural basketball; and the spirit--pure freshman.

Upperclassmen viewing the scene shake their heads in wonder, for they remember freshman intramurals quite differently. Empty courts, with teams just barely making the required number of players. Teams winning by forfeits rather than skill. No fans. No jerseys. No spirit.

No Keith Light. Light, a freshman proctor, has invigorated the freshman intramural program in the past two years since he took over the program, adding new life to the traditionally lackluster league. Light has used a many-pronged approach to inject excitement, enthusiasm and exercise into the frosh program.

Upperclassmen who were involved with the program when they were freshmen and have remained as referees, marvel at the changes. "I could never get anybody to play anything," recalls Jill M. Goodstein '89, a former intramural representative. But this year, she says, participation is "widespread."

Lawrence F. Levin '89, a former participant and referee, says, "There are people who don't play but come to cheer for their friends. That was unheard of when I was a freshman."

And that is only the half of it. In the last two years, participation has increased substantially, Light says. "Every single dorm has had participation, and almost every entry has," he says. Light estimates that one-third to one-half of freshmen have joined in on at least one game. "We're hoping to increase that," the Canaday D proctor says.

Several proctors have started competing, as well as Dean of Freshmen Henry C. Moses, who raced in the Charles River Run. Jokes Light, "He finished first in the Deans' Division."

Light has restructured the program in the past few years, changing the composition of teams, creating a new basketball program, and modifying the touch football program. He has increased publicity, broadened the range of sports and introduced some creative "incentives to participate." And from most reports, these innovations have injected new life into the program.

For one thing, as the number of participants has been increasing, the number of forfeits has been declining. "There have been a few, but they have been drastically reduced. Last year there were even fewer," Light says.

In an attempt to encourage participation, Light has started posting results and games in the Freshman Union, as well as advertising games in the Yard Bulletin. Andrew R. Barnard '89, who oversees the referee program, says that the present program "is much more organized and publicized" than the one he played in two years ago. Barnard says the Union bulletin board alone "makes people a lot more excited."

Light has also introduced what he calls "other incentives to participate." For the first time, freshmen can choose a nickname for their teams. And from the looks of it, some dorms spend more time thinking of a creative name than practicing. The sporting monikers include the Holworthy East Dudemeisters, the Matthews South Funk Inspectors, the Grays Middle Wine and Cheese, the Holworthy We-Bads, the Thayer North Pretty Maids and, of course, the Mower Lawn Mowers.

Free uniforms in the form of t-shirts also encourage participation. Dorms can submit original T-shirt designs for their teams and Light will fund and provide the jerseys as soon as possible.

"We had more fun with our name and drawing up the T-shirt than we do with losing," says Canaday C intramural representative Craig Katz '91.

Light has also attempted to increase participation by moving games from weekdays to Fridays and Sundays and abandoning the "razzle-dazzle" house intramural rules, which allow multiple passes per down. As Coley B. Bullesfeld '89 describes it, house football is more like "Ultimate Football", while freshman intramurals are more like real football.

Freshman football is also scheduled differently than upperclass intramurals. Because of the large numbers of touch football forfeits in the past, Light changed the way games are scheduled. Instead of a regular schedule, teams now "contract" for a game on a week-by-week basis. Barnard says, "There has been less forfeiting and still pretty good participation."

But not everyone appreciates the contract system. "It would be nice to have football regularly," says Craig Katz '91, a Canaday C intramural representative. "Unless it's regularly scheduled and people have to be there, people sometimes wimp out."

Light has expanded the number of teams, which has also added flexibility to scheduling. "It used to be that each dorm had one team for a sport," the economics graduate student explains. "Now we allow as many teams as want to form to do so."

As a result, Light reports that the 16 freshman dorms fielded 40 basketball teams and 48 volleyball teams this fall, as compared to 20 for each sport two years ago. This "open registration" helps the program because "the dorms are not limited to one team," Light says. "This increases the number of people able to participate."

It increases scheduling flexibility as well. In the past, "You never knew when the games were going to be played until the last minute," says Daniel A. Kaufman '89, a freshman intramural referee. Under the new system, the schedule is made in advance, and teams choose which night they want to play. In basketball, freshmen can choose to play in the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Thursday league, depending on their own schedules.

While students says that the change has made the system more complicated, they also say they like it. "[The system] is a little more complicated, but it gives more people a chance to play and encourages people to come out," says Rocky Lee '91, a Hurlbut intramural representative. "Intramurals are for fun, not just for competition."

The system allows freshmen to play at different levels. Thomas F. Callahan, a Grays Middle resident, says that his entry has two volleyball teams, a very competitive one and more casual one. Two years ago, says Eddie F. Brown '89, who referees freshman games, "What happened was a lot of the time you had a really dominant team, and there was no `A' or `B' team, so the scrubs just sat on the bench."

"It's better to have the option to have more than one team. It's no fun to go to a game and just sit on the bench," says John J. Ducey '91.

For basketball aficionados, Light implemented a fall three-player basketball program in the fall of 1986. These half-court games are a throwback to playground hoop, with the teams calling their own fouls and playing best two out of three games to 10 baskets.

"Three-man basketball is great," says William H. Dillon '91, Mower intramural representative. "It allows people with a little less ability to compete. It's a little less athletic and a little more fun."

Ducey says, "Three-man basketball helps cut down on forfeits. There were times that we could only get three people."

While some dorms which can field a five-man team may prefer more traditional basketball, they agree that three-man hoop does have its advantages. "We would prefer playing five-man full court, but that's only because we have five guys," says Wen Shen '91, a Straus resident. "But in the end, the three-man league is probably better."

However, Lee adds, there is a drawback. "Because there are fewer players, it doesn't really allow girls to play."

Others agree that the freshmen intramurals in general are too male-oriented. "There are at most two girls on a team in volleyball, and basketball is almost exclusively male," says Benson Chu '91, a Matthews intramural representative. Says Katz, "A lot of women are scared off by all-male teams.

While Light tried to organize a woman's league last year, he could not garner enough participation. This year, he is asking intramural representatives to suggest how he might get more women involved.

And Light adds that he wants to expand the program overall as well. "We're trying to hit some of the people who wouldn't be interested in basketball, but would be interested in other sports," he says. This year, he hopes to add darts, chess, table tennis and inner-tube water polo and is exploring interest in bridge, pool, and racquetball. "We'd like to see the freshman class paddling around in Blodgett Pool," Light says.

Light would also like to tie some of the events to community service. "We're trying to make freshman intramurals more broad in scope. We'd like to turn it away from pure athletics to more of a group activity," he says.

While many students welcome the expansion of the program, Ducey says that having too many sports could decrease participation in some.

But Light says he thinks that problem could easily be alleviated. He is currently looking into increasing publicity for the freshman championship. "The houses have the Straus Cup, but right now the freshmen just have the overall championship," he says.

Combining the freshman program with the upperclass intramurals is another one of Light's goals. Light says interaction between freshmen and upperclassmen would be an advantage as there would be a "greater base" of athletes with a combined program. "It would give us an opportunity to have more sports," he says, adding that the larger base would also make a women's league more realistic.

The greatest obstacle facing a solid outdoors program is relcutance to go to the fields, Light says. "The one thing I would do if I could is move the practice fields to this side of the river," he says.

Despite the changes of the past two years, Light is still experimenting. "I want to have a program that works. I want people to want it to be there," Light says.

Judging from the frenzy raised at recent freshman intramural games, the people are there. There, and liking it. That's what makes the difference.