When Caspar Schliemann ’25 logged on to Brown’s intramural sports website earlier this semester, he was expecting to sign up his 11-person team for intramural soccer. Instead, he saw basketball, volleyball and ultimate frisbee — but soccer wasn’t listed.
“The registration window opened, and I looked the first day and there was no soccer and no explanation,” Schliemann said.
Schliemann immediately looked for answers. “I emailed (the organizers) and they took a week to get back to me,” he said. “They said it had something to do with field space, but they didn’t tell anyone that beforehand.”
Last fall, Schliemann played with 10 teammates in the lower tier of competition. There was typically one game per week against another team in the same self-selected tier. At the end of the semester, there was a playoff series during which games occurred every three or four days, Schliemann said.
“I’m definitely pretty upset” about the decision, Schliemann added. “It doesn’t really make sense to me.”
Deputy Director of Athletics for Administration Jake Silverman said that last fall “space and staffing constraints” led to difficulties running the league smoothly.
Silverman noted that the Athletics Department staff “regularly promote all recreational programming” across multiple channels, including IMLeagues — the site teams use to register for intramural sports — Today@Brown and social media.
“As with all elements of our recreational programming, we are constantly evaluating and looking to improve the quality and accessibility to best serve the Brown community,” Silverman said. He added that intramural sports will be hosting an outdoor five-on-five soccer tournament in November, “providing an opportunity for those interested in competitive soccer to take part this semester.”
But some students still lament the loss of an organized and low-stakes environment in which to play.
“As a freshman, having an opportunity to play competitive soccer with very low stakes was amazing,” said Seth McKenzie ’25. “It was (a) … way to meet people, people who I wouldn’t have ordinarily met.”
“Of the Brown experiences I’ve had, (intramural soccer) is definitely one of the top ones,” he added. “I felt blindsided. … No one really knew what was going on. … We were all planning to run it back with our teams from last year, trying to make a run for championships.”
McKenzie said there is pickup soccer “every now and then” at Stevenson-Pincince Field by the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, but the soccer goals are often locked up, which prevents more frequent play.
Schliemann also noted that he has been playing less frequently than last year, outside of the occasional pickup game. “It just means that beyond club or varsity there’s really no way to have an organized sport,” Schliemann said.
In addition to pickup soccer, McKenzie has also become more involved with Midnight Soccer, a Rhode Island School of Design club that hosts weekly indoor soccer matches in Warwick. “Thank God for RISD,” McKenzie said.
Schliemann was involved in indoor intramural soccer last winter, which he hopes will continue this year.
Silverman said that Brown Athletics “will communicate spring season offerings once (they) are able to confirm space and staffing schedules,” but that “intramural staff (are) planning to run (five-on-five) soccer leagues in the spring semester.”
