The Path to the Tyng

For those of you who don't know, the 12 residential colleges (think Hogwarts houses) have an annual competition in intramural sports ranging from soccer and basketball to inner-tube water polo (think Quidditch Cup). The prize is the glorious Tyng Cup, given to the college that earns the most points for the whole year, thereby demonstrating their athletic prowess (plus bragging rights, of course).

Me holding the Tyng Cup at last year's banquet

What makes it more fun is that intramurals are more about enthusiastic participation than actual athletic skill. To make things more fair, varsity athletes are not allowed to compete in their varsity sport, so my friend Jake would not be able to run IM cross-country because he's on the varsity squad, but he still contributes a lot to the IM ice hockey team! That means the field is wide open for anyone who wants to try to play, or even pick up a totally new sport. Even college fellows can get in on the fun, such as the ever-versatile admissions officer David Reiman, a proud member of Silliman '05:

"Roy-man" neatly stopping a shot in an IM hockey game

Usually I'm the cheerleader on the side taking photos...some of them turn out rather amusing =P

I'm flying!

Fellow URCs Jeff and Funmi serving up volleyballs

Just today, my favorite IM started: bowling! It was just practice, but it was still a lot of fun and a good stress reliever at the end of a long shopping week. I hadn't gone since the last week of last year's IM season (my proud 2-point contribution to the Tyng Cup run), but I was surprisingly consistent, managing to break 100 each time and even scoring a double strike in the last game. Even more surprising was my suitemate Sara, who managed four strikes in a row to earn the high score for the day:

She even did it in the last frame -> bonus points!

The winter seasons is really important because there are so many sports going on: men and women's volleyball, men and women's squash, swimming, and more. It's also somewhat more schedule-friendly than the fall and spring seasons, with most events taking place in the evening at Payne Whitney Gym rather than in the afternoons at the IM fields. As it's been in the past two years, we Sillimanders are busy building up our lead...here's to Tyng #3!