IM FAQs
Employment
What jobs are available in Intramural Sports?
- We have student officiating positions available for students. Student officials referee our team activities throughout the year.
- There are opportunities to advance in Intramural Sports once you have officiated our activities. This includes student supervisors and student coordinators in Intramural Sports.
How do I get started?
- Showing your interest begins with applying for our student officials position to alert our office. For more information about possible employment, check out our officials page!
Do I need experience?
- There is no sports-related experience required in order to officiate. You will have a team of people ready to teach you what you need to know to be successful, and will offer continuous feedback to improve your skills in officiating.
Will participants give me a difficult time while officiating?
- It is true that officials are on the frontlines with players during the game. However, they are not alone! You will always have a team of people supporting you every step of the way during your time officiating. We host trainings to equip you with the tools needed to handle potential situations and conflict resolution.
Team and Player Requirements
How do I register a team?
- Teams must be registered through the website IMLeagues.com. Once you create an account and log in you will be able to search for sports and leagues to join. If you wish to create a team, the option will be available once the specific sport and league is selected. If you are experiencing issues, there is an option for live support assistance.
What are my payment options for fees?
- The defaulted option is a bursar charge to the account of the team captain. However, alternative forms of payment can be setup if the captain calls the Recreational Services office at 255-5133.
- Alternative forms include: credit card, checks made out to Cornell University, or if you are a residence hall, Greek or other organization that has an organizational line account to render payment.
- We encourage team captains to communicate with their team regarding team fees incurred over the season.
What is the responsibility of a team captain in intramural sports?
- Team captains serve as a liaison between the team and the Intramural Sports Office. League and team information is primarily sent to the team captain.
- The team captain may protest a rules interpretation during a game or eligibility issues.
- Team captains are responsible for assisting the Intramural Sports staff with making sure the team and its spectators/affiliates adhere to all sports rules and Intramural Sports policies.
- The team captain is also the individual that is responsible for all fees that the team incurs over the season.
- We encourage team captains to communicate with their team regarding all of these items.
I want to play... but I don't have a team.
- Participants can list themselves as “Free Agents” from the IMleagues.com website. This will allow all team captains to see your profile and invite you to join their team.
- Please keep in mind that once a participant plays with a team, they cannot play for any other team during that season or post season.
Are there intramural roster limitations?
- There are potential limitations in terms of adding players to a team’s roster. Teams can add players during both regular and postseason games.
- Players can only play for one Open Competitive, one Open Recreational, and one Fraternity or Women's team per activity.
- Current varsity athletes are not allowed to participate in the same or parallel sports they play.
- Teams cannot have more than two (2) players from the club teams from that particular sport in Open Competitive, Women's or Fraternity leagues, and one (1) player in Open Recreational leagues.
Can a player "walk on" to a team at the game site?
- Teams can add players to their roster at the game site as long as the players have their CUID and fulfill the roster addition rules.
How do playoffs in intramural sports work?
- Once the regular season has ended, league playoff brackets will be formulated and qualifying teams will receive notification through IMLeagues.
- These brackets will include all playoff schedule information from the first round through the championship game.
- These brackets can be found on IMLeagues under the specific league page (ex. Open Competitive Flag Football) by clicking the blue banner stating "Click Here to View Playoff Brackets."
- NOTE: Open Recreational leagues do NOT have playoffs. They receive extra regular season games in lieu of this.
Do I have to disclose any gender identity information to intramural sports?
- CUIM encourages everyone to participate in accordance with their identity, including any league which they feel most comfortable with and will not be required to disclose identity information with the CUIM staff in order to participate in intramural sports. Further, CUIM does not tolerate exclusion, bullying, or harassment of an individual due to their gender identity.
Divisions
What are Open League/Divisions?
- Open leagues/divisions are divisions that have no gender identity requisites. Anyone is able to play.
Why are there no Mix-Gender or Co-Rec league options?
- Mix-Gender/Co-Rec rules of play often adhere to the gender binary, and CUIM recognizes that our participants may identify outside of that binary. In order to reduce barriers to play for all individuals, CUIM has opted to host Open leagues/divisions.
What is the difference between "Open Competitive" and "Open Recreation"?
- Open Competitive divisions are designed to promote healthy competition among participants. Teams in that division will participate in a playoff bracket at the end of the regular season.
- Open Recreation divisions are designed with an emphasis on practicing/learning the skills for that particular activity, and encouraging a more relaxed and social atmosphere. Open Recreational leagues have more regular season games, but do not have playoffs or a culmination.
Policies and Rules
What is the intramural sports jewelry policy?
- This policy is to help minimize injuries to players during activity, self or otherwise.
- Small ear studs and nose studs are acceptable for play.
- Otherwise, no exposed jewelry such as rings, large or hoop earrings and piercings, and bracelets are permitted.
- Taping down or covering jewelry is not acceptable.
- Certain religious and medical alert items may but worn but only after direct approval from the Director of Intramural Sports.
How do I avoid fees when my team cannot make it to a scheduled game?
- Forfeit fees are incurred when teams do not inform the intramural sports office about a team absence before the required time period needed by the office.
- If your team cannot participate for any reason, a default can be given.
- The team must contact the intramural sports office prior to 4:00pm the day of the game during the week. For weekend games contact must be made by Friday at 5:00pm to avoid the forfeit fee.
- Team captains will be billed for forfeit fees.
How will teams be notified about schedule changes?
- Teams and/or team captains will receive messages from IMLeagues.com or the Director of Intramural Sports in regards to weather cancelations and reschedules.
- These messages will be sent out on weekdays and weekends one hour prior to when games are scheduled to begin.
- We will NEVER call with this information, nor tell teams to call opponents with this information.
Can unsporting behavior affect our team or participant status?
- Unsporting behavior can affect your personal and team's ability to play throughout the season.
- Players and teams that accumulate too many unsporting conduct points may be suspended or dismissed from the league.
- Additional reports to Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards or other pertinent offices may be filed depending upon the behavior reported.
- For more explicit details, please review our Intramural Sports Participant Handbook.
Can our friends, family, etc., come and watch us play?
- We encourage teams to invite spectators to watch them compete in Intramural Sports. We know that activities like these provide a great social outlet.
- The team is responsible for their actions, and this includes any unsporting penalties that may occur.
- Unsporting penalties can count towards the team-count and may result in the team being dismissed for the remainder of the season.
- CUIM staff reserve the right to remove fans, address any unacceptable behavior during the event, and may assess a penalty to fit the behavior of the spectators.
I couldn't find an answer to my question here in the FAQs.
- Check out our Intramural Sports Participant Handbook.
- Contact our office at 607-255-9592.
- Email us at intramurals@cornell.edu