Recreation Services is offering students and faculty the opportunity to forget about summer classes and jobs for a while by participating in some intramural sports.

In summers past, intramurals used to be started during the traditional summer session, said intramurals coordinator Garry Greenlee.

“Entries would be due the middle of June, and we’d play June and July,” he said.

Due to a large number of conflicts with the same people playing all six summer sports, Greenlee decided to change things up a bit this year.

He divided up the summer into two sessions with three intramurals played each session. Since this is the inaugural year of the two-session plan, Greenlee doesn’t know how it will affect participants.

“Numbers may be way up; they may be way down. We may re-evaluate for next year,” Greenlee said.

Starting May 10, interested students can begin turning in rosters and entry forms for the first three intramural sports.

First on the list is softball. The game is played the same way during the summer as it is during spring semester — seven innings of slow-pitch ball.

Sand football is the second intramural being offered. The game is played on the sand volleyball courts east of Jack Trice Stadium with a 40-yard “field.” A team starts from a line of scrimmage and passes the ball downfield. When the ball is caught, the player making the catch is down and not allowed to advance the ball.

Teams can make only two first downs before they have to score. They have three downs available to get to the first-down marker. The location of the line of scrimmage on a scoring play determines the number of points scored. If a team does not score, possession of the football is lost.

When that happens, the other team gets the ball and must start from the end of the field. Each team has seven possessions.

Greenlee said he loves sand football. With only around 12 teams expected to play, he hopes that word will get around and more teams will sign up.

“It’s awesome. We don’t get that many teams playing really, but the ones that do just love it,” he said.

Finishing off the first round of intramurals is broomball. Registration for these three intramurals ends May 27.

Three-player basketball kicks off the second round of summer intramurals with registration beginning June 14. Participants play half-court basketball with no referees, allowing the players to call the shots.

Greenlee hopes to make use of the newly remodeled outdoor basketball courts next to Beyer Hall during the summer months. In case of inclement weather, he said games will be moved indoor to either Beyer Hall or State Gym.

Sand volleyball is played on the sand courts east of Jack Trice Stadium.

Finishing off the summer intramural schedule is outdoor soccer. About 10 teams are expected to participate. Nine-player teams play a regular game of soccer on a full-size field. In summers past, it has been played on an intermediate-size field, but with eight members.

Entries for these three intramurals must be in by June 23.