Intramural collegiate sports are technically supposed to be for recreation, but some teams take their leagues a lot more seriously than others.

“Intramurals basketball is one of my favorite things about college,” Nathan Ironmonger, a third-year student, said. “It’s meant to be for fun, but when you get a bunch of competitive guys together we take it very seriously.”

“Win or Lose” is an intramural basketball team that played games every Wednesday night at 7 p.m in McPhee. The team name was designated to remind the members that winning isn’t everything, Ironmonger said.

“Win or lose we are still gonna have fun,” Ironmonger said. “At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about, having fun.”

With that being said, “Win or Lose” took their season very seriously, competing at a high level caliber against every time they played, Benjamin Franks, a second-year student, said.

“It makes it more interesting when everyone’s going super hard,” Franks said. “We want to enjoy ourselves of course, but our goal is to win every game.”

Sometimes, the team’s competitiveness went a little too far, sparking conflicts among opponents, Alexander Rocksvold, a second-year student, said.

“We had a situation in a close game where tempers flared and our teammate got into a little altercation with another team,” Rocksvold said. “We made sure to smooth things over in the end though.

“Win or Lose” finished their season with only one loss, a record that was good enough for the team to win the championship game.

“We knew going into our last game that if we won it we would win the league because of our record,” Franks said. “Winning that game was an extremely satisfying feeling.”

The team attributes their successful season to the chemistry they developed off the court playing pickup basketball in the McPhee gym, Ironmonger said.

“We play like two to three times in McPhee every week so we know each other’s games really well,” Ironmonger said. “It’s almost like we have practices.”

The goal for “Win or Lose”, and most intramural teams, is to win the class championship mug and t-shirt awarded to the team with the best record in their league, Rocksvold said.

“It may seem kinda funny, but getting those shirts and mugs are a big deal to us,” Rocksvold said. “There’s a certain pride in it.”

Competitiveness between teams during the season is the main reason intramural leagues are a joyful experience, Franks said.

“It’s fun to mess around and have fun,” Franks said, “but at the end of the day if you are playing a team that isn’t trying to win you aren’t really having fun.”

Intramural sports are not only a competitive outlet for non-athletes, but a stress reliever for overloaded college students, Rocksvold said.

“When you are having a busy week and you have a bunch of assignments due and you are really stressed, it helps to get on the court and get some physical activity in,” Rocksvold said.

Alex can be reached at [email protected].