IM Executive Board introduces Beaver Cup
Over the past school year, the MIT intramural executive officers have been making several changes to the IM sport experience. Most recently, the community has seen additional sports such as cricket and the e-sport League of Legends and the introduction of players of the month. Perhaps the biggest of the overhauls is the addition of the Beaver Cup, a points system through which FSILGs, graduate departments, and clubs can score points for participating and winning in different leagues.
According to former president of the IM Executive Board Alex Dalzell '18, the concept of the Beaver Cup ties right into the mission of intramurals and its structure. We asked Dalzell about the motivation to add the Beaver Cup and what it brings to the community experience.
The Tech: Why do you think the Beaver Cup was a necessary addition to the already diverse and vibrant intramural experience?
Dalzell: "Ultimately, IM sports exist to give members of the MIT community – students, faculty, staff, alumni – a fun way to get exercise, an outlet to destress, and especially a way to meet and bond with other people from their dorm, FSILG, department, lab, etc. in a fun and friendly setting. Before the Beaver Cup, the different sports had little interaction with each other; your experience playing basketball and your experience playing soccer were entirely disjoint, even though it’s the same people you’re playing the two sports with. The way our system is structured, we already had a bunch of established groups on campus - for example FSILGs, dorms, or graduate departments - that fielded teams in many sports, and the same members of these groups were playing on several of these teams for their group. The Beaver Cup allows these groups to score points toward an overall championship based on their participation and success in each individual sport, giving a natural connection between the different sports that didn’t exist before."
The Tech: What does the IM Executive Board hope to achieve out of the participation in intramural sports with the added incentive of a cup?
Dalzell: "More than anything, we hope the Beaver Cup gives people a reason to be more excited about IMs. The idea is that the Beaver Cup will give our participants an excuse to play more often or to try a new sport, it will give them something to talk about and look forward to with their friends, and ultimately, it will let them have more fun while they’re playing. It’s not something we expect everyone to be actively following and involved in, but we hope some of our participants will pay attention to the standings as they’re updated and really get excited about trying to score points for their group to win the Cup. When you think about mental health and campus culture, I think this really augments the role of IMs to give people a low-stress, recreational outlet that they can share with their friends."
Groups are eligible for the Beaver Cup if they are fully affiliated; i.e. if they attend all three affiliation meetings during the academic year. Eligible groups receive points primarily for ranking highly in their respective sports leagues, with the weights being higher for higher-tier leagues. After a hard-fought and well-attended school year in intramural sports, the leading organization, Graduate Association of Mechanical Engineers (GAME), owns a giant lead in the race for the cup. With a few results waiting to be entered into the standings, GAME is on comfortable pace to be proud owners of the first physical wooden Beaver Cup, which will be on display in the Zesiger Athletic Center.