Annually, the UI does everything in its power to improve campus recreation. One organization, the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association, helps the university.

Essentially, the association is the NCAA of intramural sports, hosting national tournaments for soccer, volleyball, flag football, and other sports. But because it is a mediating-ideas hub rather than a regulatory body, it lacks the capacity to penalize its members.

Beginning in 1950, the association has grown to represent now almost 650 institutions, including the UI.

Director of Recreational Services Harry Ostrander said he thinks the university’s the association membership pays great dividends because it allows university officials to compare Recreational Services with those of other institutions.

“I use the association in terms of helping determine exactly what we’re going to do in terms of campus and recreational facilities,” he said. “What have other institutions done in terms of building their facilities? These things are useful to us in terms of benchmarking and comparing ourselves with other institutions across the country.”

The association offers memberships to universities, professionals in the recreational field, and students. Fees are largely dependent on whether a college is a four-year or two-year institution. Ostrander estimated the UI’s membership fee is between $300 and $400.

Association membership coordinator Sadie Hartshorn said the basic university membership is sufficient in order to provide the major benefits offered. If either a student or an alumnus decides to become an individual member, she said, he or she will also receive additional information, which will be mailed to her or his home.

“An institutional membership is essentially a blanket or an umbrella membership for everybody,” Hartshorn said. “The discounts are essentially available to everyone at that school … we still recommend that people get the individual membership as well as the institutional [membership] to maximize those benefits.”

Nick Todorovich, the association’s assistant director of national sports programs, said the organization knows only a small number of students go on to play at the varsity level in college. But that shouldn’t stop all from competing in sports on campus.

“We realize that [on] college campuses throughout the United States, 90 percent or more of the students are not varsity players — yet they have a desire to compete,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why our association exists.”

Ostrander said he’s impressed with how organized and prompt the association is in getting information to its institutional members. Trends in the recreation field happen frequently, and the association does a good job communicating with the schools in regard to what sports are gaining in popularity, he said.

“It’s amazing how on a national level these trends hit us all about the same time,” Ostrander said. “If they have a big spike [in] interest in a new intramural activity, such as Frisbee golf, it becomes popular here and other institutions at about the same time.”

Mike Widen, an associate director of Recreational Services, said he thinks the association’s ability to facilitate communication among campus recreational services on a national level is second to none.

He sees the UI continuing its membership in the future.

“We’ve enjoyed our membership … it gives a chance to talk a lot with other universities to figure out what they are doing that works,” he said. “Kind of put our heads together and solve problems together.”