by Brenden Morrow ’27
It took the elimination round of the National Fencing Championship, losing 4-14, to change my scoring approach. On the sidelines, I heard my coach shouting, “one point at a time,” and I began to focus on that one point, pushing back on thoughts of how poorly I was doing. One touch at a time, I lunged at my opponent. To cheers from the crowd, I ended victorious. The score was 15-14.
This month, backed by popular demand, Bellarmine’s Intramural Frisbee will replace Bellarmine’s Intramural Football, which has seen fewer and fewer participants over the years. The change reminded me of my fencing experiences: I’ve learned the necessity of being to change the approach to what you’re doing, if it isn’t working. Increasingly, with the introduction of community time between the first and second periods of the day, as well as a shorter lunch, students choose to attend clubs during the fifty minutes they have, instead of attending intramurals like they traditionally have.
This week, the Bell Online sat down with Mr. Tam, the moderator of intramurals, for an interview about the change.
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Mr. Tam – Moderator of Bellarmine Intramural Sports
Q: Why did this transfer happen?
A: We did it because there has been a decline in participation in football, so we’re going to give it a shot. In the past we didn’t have enough students who attended football, so we decided to make it a change and try ultimate frisbee.
Q: When did this transfer happen?
A: This transfer happened this year. We decided we wanted to try something different and throw out new and different sports to get more students involved.
Q: What is your opinion on this change?
A: My job is to get kids involved and go and do stuff rather than being stuck on their surfaces or on their phones, playing video games. So, the more students that can get involved in participating in physical activity, the better. My job is to find activities for the students to participate in so if it is ultimate frisbee, if it’s a spike ball tournament, if it’s pickle ball, I’ll figure something out.
Q: What is the history of intramural football?
A: We started intramural football because there was a buzz for football again. Again, as years passed, the amount of teams and students participating has declined. Surprisingly, this year it actually increased and there were requests for it, so we put it out there. We actually got a decrease in teams this year, so we are having a short season.
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Mr. Tam wants to do whatever he can to get students involved rather than being stuck on their surfaces or phones, playing video games. If you have any ideas on intramurals that you would like to be involved in, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Tam.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
image courtesy of Nathan V. Nguyen ’25