With simple rules and an easy-to-understand goal, soccer is a sport that welcomes all types of people. These traits and many others make soccer the most popular option for prospective intramural athletes.

Dana McCurdy, a full-time teaching assistant for gross human anatomy at WSU and a participant in intramural soccer, cites the sport’s simplistic nature as one of the reasons it is so popular.

“It’s popular because it’s easy to pick up,” McCurdy said. “A lot of times, beginners can play in the [recreational] league, and they do fairly well because it’s a very straightforward game, and there is not a lot of rules to learn.”

The simplicity and popularity of the game are major selling points for its intramural leagues.

Even if prospective participants have not played soccer before, they typically learn the game much faster than they would with many other intramural sports.

Sports like basketball, football and softball often require at least some background knowledge of the sport, while the objective of “kick the ball in the general direction of the other net” can be understood quickly, even by someone who has never seen the sport before.

“I really like playing with a mixture of people who have a very high skill level, as well as a very low skill level,” McCurdy said. “It’s very rewarding to watch people who haven’t played, or have a lower skill level to grow over the course of the season.”

The low learning curve for soccer makes the recreational intramural leagues a free-for-all in terms of talent. Some players are just trying the sport for the first time, while others have been playing since they were young, but they all end up on the same team, growing and improving together.

With both outdoor and indoor leagues running in all three intramural seasons, there are plenty of opportunities to participate in the student body’s favorite intramural sport at WSU throughout the year.