Friday, March 29, 2024

Relevance

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Does the Intramurals have any relevance to your life?

We “pause” for almost a week to value the court – one of the 5 C’s of Silliman education. For five days, the university expects us to learn outside the classroom: on the court, the track, the field.

Sports have always been used as a metaphor for life. It is said to be essential for the holistic development of individuals. All work and no play makes a Sillimanian silly, after all.

The Weekly Siitllimanian is one with the university in pushing through “holistic education.” We believe that being book smart is not enough to get you through life successfully. Exposure to everything else is what living is all about.

We do not see a problem with the intention and vision behind this “one week break.” We do, however, see a problem with how the vision is being realized.

First, several spectators have noticed that the proper rules on substitution weren’t followed strictly in some games. Some players switched places even without the referee recognizing the act. The substitutions were poorly monitored. Although this may not have the greatest factor when it comes to result, but it says a lot about what matters most: HOW one plays the game.

The university has annual events like the Intramurals so that the student body can exercise the supposed ideals of the activities. If we practice the antithesis of these ideals, our vision meets defeat. “We are what we repeatedly do,” Aristotle once said. So what exactly do you repeatedly do? Does your “team” substitute “players” without the “referee’s” recognition?
Second, other students think that Intrams accentuates the sporty Sillimanians and puts the non-sporty ones at the backstage. The sporty becomes sportier. The non-sporty looks non-sportier than ever. For the eyes of the not-so-involved, this scenario creates a divide between these “types” of students. Intrams then amplifies the difference between the two. Hence, the indifference of the non-sporty populace.

But that doesn’t have to be perceived that way because in the first place, that’s not the purpose of the event at all. However, the management becomes responsible for the effects of the activity towards the people, regardless of its intentions.

tWS suggests that additional games be included in the next Intramurals. Cosplay, live-action Plants vs Zombies and Angry Birds, Chinese Garter Tournament, Patentero League, perhaps? Or we can have an afternoon of “Larong Pinoy”. Other than being the required cheerers and Food Committee members, students should PLAY. The management should make MORE people MORE involved. Make games that anyone can play – not just for the swift and sharp, but also for those who don’t know anything about the “standard sports” in today’s Intrams. If such games do not exist, then let’s make them! Creativity, ladies and gentlemen, is what apathy fears. Let’s scare it.

This, however, does not mean that students should not try harder to be involved, given that the status quo does not change. We hold Intrams during recitation days. Hence, we should make most of the tuition fee that our parents are paying. If we’re not going to have classes, we might as well cheer, learn and enjoy.

Now we ask the more important question: Do you have any relevance to the Silliman Intramurals life?

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