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Intramurals recreational sports are a way for college students to stay active and bond with other students while they're at Daytona State College. One thing most people don't know is the success of the department and the traditions of the program it upholds.

Intramurals is a name given to "playing within" or games played within. It allows students to be part of the college community and to form relationships on a competitive basis. It's open to faculty, staff and students. Freshman student Pierre Pablo describes his experience as a positive one.

"It's been good. I met new people and it allowed me to see the competition at DSC," said Pablo, who plans on participating in tournaments in the near future.

For almost 10 years, Mike Phelan has been DSC's director of the Intramurals Sports program. He's seen a lot of success over the years.

"In the early 2000's our department won the Central Florida Soccer League Tournament. We won a couple invitational tournaments in Flag Football," Phelan said.

Intramurals Recreational Sports consists of three athletic team sports - flag football, basketball and soccer. But the department isn't just involved in athletics. It hosts non-athletic games and activities such as Texas Hold'em, ping-pong and hermit crab races. Phelan says many colleges are starting to turn away from the term "intramurals" in favor of "recreational", because it gives a broader perspective to the department.

"Instead of just the terms basketball, football, and soccer, we now include non-athletic individuality activities," Phelan said, adding that foosball, ping-pong and those popular crab races broadens his participants and audiences for sports.

Daytona State College Intramurals Department is also part of the National Intramurals Recreational Sports Association. The NIRSA hosts national and regional tournaments, which DSC has recently participated in the flag football and basketball categories. The school finished third in the annual flag football tournament, the Swamp Bowl, and finished second in the Swamp Shootout at the University of Florida.

The NIRSA rates a program's success by a play data system. The number of games played plus the number of plays equals the program's average. Most schools average 14 percent to DSC's 20 percent, or 2,800 plays a semester. Daytona State's Flag Football team is ranked ninth in the country.

Daytona State also holds tournaments on campus. The school recently held the Fred Fathi Fall Championship for table tennis. Other tournaments include DSC Leadership Flag Football Tournament, Team 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Singles/Doubles Foosball tournament.

With the 45 percent increase of enrollment in recent years, the intramural department finds more students joining than ever before. Almost 900 students registered this year and 50 to 60 kids are in open gym every day.

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