Amherst Athletics hosted an open three-on-three-basketball tournament for the entire campus last Friday after the Day of Dialogue. The event was an effort to bring the community together, as well as to promote the intramural sports program for this upcoming semester.

“This tournament was the brainchild of Athletics Director Don Faulstick, Coach Gregg DiNardo, AAS President Tomi Williams and myself,” said Assistant Football and Women’s Basketball Coach Kevin Callahan ’14. “We wanted to host an event that was fun, brought Amherst students together, and kick off new programming from the Athletics Department. We wanted to do something different, something that had never really been done before, something that students could get excited about, and we came up with this idea.”

The newly revamped intramural program will feature volleyball, basketball and extreme dodgeball. “We want to broaden our programming as a means to get more students involved,” Callahan said.

Joyce Wamala ’18E, one of the commissioners of the intramural league, described the Athletic Department’s decision to revamp intramural sports.

“We want to make sure that all students have access to a wider selection of sporting activities regardless of their level of sporting availability,” she said. “Since the league only begins next Tuesday, we are looking forward to hearing a response from more students who are still interested in signing up.”

Pike Goldschmidt ’16 detailed his vision in offering “extreme” dodgeball as a new intramural sport for the year.

“In trying to keep the spirit of making athletics inclusive for the whole campus, we thought of dodgeball as the ideal sport,” Goldschmidt, one of the league commissioners, said. “It brings back the schoolyard days where everyone gets a chance to play.”

The tournament brought in many students of varying basketball ability. Some teams were pre-made, and those students who did not come in with a team all found homes with other pre-made teams, or grouped together. Ultimately, the team composed of Mike Odenwaelder ‘16; Andrew Vandini ’16 and Harry Roberson ’18 proved to be victorious and took home the coveted inaugural three-on-three- basketball tournament trophy.

“The feedback from this event was overwhelmingly positive, and Athletics will be hosting events like this in the near future,” Callahan said. “We already have some ideas for the spring, and I would encourage anyone who has an idea to reach out to me and fire away with suggestions.”

Follow this link to sign-up for intramural sports: www.IMLeagues.com/Amherst