By Eden Binder

On Thursday night it was not only the players who were participating in Recwell’s intramural basketball league, but also the officials and scorekeepers.

For basketball, officials and scorekeepers are hired for the season and they are responsible for making sure the games run smoothly and ultimately for providing the outlet that many UMD students look for when playing intramural basketball.

Senior mechanical engineering major, Lucas Janniche, has played intramural sports for all of the four years he’s been at UMD. He feels that intramurals, along with its officials and scorekeepers, are vital to UMD campus life.

“If people like sports and they’re not willing to commit to a club sport then [intramural sports] are a good way to be fun and also be competitive. The officiating helps [make people] actually play by the rules and makes it more competitive,” he said.

One of these officials is Teddana Falconer, a junior criminology and criminal justice major. Falconer is in her second year as an intramural official who found out about officiating from the First Look Fair and decided to go for the job.

“I’d say they sold it to me well. A job where it wouldn’t feel like one and a place [where I could] meet great people,” she said.

Falconer also said how her in-game experience has been smooth, attributing this to a lack of mens A league games, which is where the best players tend to play, while co-ed is more for the less competitive or beginner players. Falconer associates the increased skill level of mens A league players with adding to the craziness and competitiveness of the game, although she’s learned that keeping track of the co-ed games is still key to success.

“I haven’t had a crazy game yet. I’ve only had co-ed and co-ed isn’t usually that competitive, but [for] the fast paced games you just [gotta] keep up.”

Along with officials there are also the scorekeepers, like first year scorekeeper Henry Horch. The senior marketing and finance major took the job to make some spare cash before graduation, on top of his four years of experience playing intramural sports.  

“I found out through an email that IMLeagues sent out and my main motivation was just to make a few bucks,” Horch said.

Even though he has only worked 2 shifts so far, Horch has learned some valuable lessons.

“I guess [I have learned] to be extra patient. Sometimes the game slows down, but you’ve got to stay diligent and know what’s happening in the game even if the game is going really slow and you’re getting tired,” he said.

Featured Image: Official Teddana Falconer stands ready to make a call if needed during an intramural game on Feb. 9, 2023 at Reckord Armory in College Park, Maryland. Photo by Eden Binder.