Part of the reason you came to Iowa State may have been for the intramural sports. That’s what the prized “Intramural Champion” T-shirts claim, anyway. And no, I still haven’t won one. (Don’t ask.)

If you have discovered the joys of intramurals or are thinking about playing, you might notice something that’s bugging me. A whole lot more men than women are playing.

I did a little research and discovered that only 446 women’s teams participated in intramurals last year, compared to 2,712 men’s teams. There were also 939 co-rec teams, but the total number of women to men is still off-balance.

In case you are a freshman and are wondering how intramurals work (along with a bunch of other stuff), the number of teams is usually limited only by how many sign up to play. So it seems like women just aren’t as interested.

I’m not sure I buy that. I’ve played a lot of intramurals, and all the women I’ve played with or against seemed to be having a great time. It doesn’t matter how athletically talented they actually are, since there are different skill levels for most sports.

So why don’t more of them play? Why aren’t more women out there shooting hoops, throwing softballs and skidding across the broomball court?

Since this year is the 25th anniversary of Title IX (you know, that delightful little law which says federally-funded institutions [i.e., ISU] can’t discriminate against women), we’ve all heard the debates about varsity athletics, ratings of different universities and what-not.

But what about intramurals — are there any guidelines?

It turns out that intramurals are covered under Title IX just like varsity athletics. Garry Greenlee, ISU’s intramural program coordinator, said he had never been approached about complying. I decided to do a little investigating of my own to find out if ISU makes the grade.

There are three guidelines to consider: equal numbers, evidence that the school is expanding towards equal numbers and accommodation of the interests and abilities of both sexes.

We already know the participation numbers don’t equate with ISU’s fairly-even enrollment numbers. Strike one.

The participation numbers have been pretty constant over the last several years, Greenlee said. However, a few other things have changed. All 50-plus sports are offered for both sexes now, and new sports have been added. Putt art, a new addition last year, was the only sport in which the women outnumbered the men. My take was that ISU is slowly improving and expanding the intramural program.

The last category is interest and ability. This is the part that irks me.

Greenlee said Rec Services accommodates women’s interests by offering aerobics.

Last year, 1,477 women participated in aerobics, compared to just 45 men. So there is definitely interest there. However, I don’t see aerobics as a substitute for intramurals. Aerobics is great exercise, but it’s just not the same.

The people over there in 107 State Gym are trying. My only request for them is to advertise, advertise, advertise. We’ve got a great intramural program. The question is: how can we get more women interested?

My plea to all you ISU women is to give intramurals a chance this year.

The opportunity is there; take advantage of it! There will always be aerobics classes to take, but when else will you have the chance to play full-court, 5-player basketball with a dozen other women? Or how about treds football, soccer or broomball?

See you on the court.

Catherine Conover is a junior in liberal studies from Mapleton.