University-sports teams: what are they, how do they work?
University sports are a big deal, turn on the television any Saturday in the fall and you will see several football games going on. While sports like football tend to get most of the attention there are actually dozens of sports that students can compete in.
Broadly speaking university sports teams are divided into two categories. The first is intramural sports; these are aimed mainly at students who just want to play for fun. For the most part the games are played against other teams at the same school. There are also usually several different levels so that matter how good you are at a sport you should be able to find a team that is at your level. Playing intramural sports can be a great way to have fun, meet people and stay in shape.
The other type of sports team that you will find at a university is the varsity team; this is the one that plays against other schools. You have probably seen college football on television and noticed that huge numbers of fans show up for the games. This is not true for all universities however, not all schools put that much emphasis on their athletic programs. The ones that do however can attract tens of thousands of fans for each game and these programs can generate millions of dollars in revenue for the school so they are taken very seriously, both by the school and the students. There are also many fans who have never attended the university who will watch the games.
Far and away the most popular of the university team sports is football but it is not the only one. Basketball is also very popular and has a large following. In certain areas and at some schools baseball and hockey are also sports that draw large crowds. There are also sports teams that draw few spectators like the tennis team of the golf team. There are actually dozens of sports that are contested by university teams so there is a good chance that a sport that you play will be one of them.
Most of the students who compete in varsity sports receive scholarships to help pay for school. This is most obvious for the football team but all sports offer scholarships. In some of the high profile sports where there is a lot of money on the line this has led to cheating since the students are not supposed to be paid to play. The scholarship is supposed to pay for just tuition, books, room and board. However competitive pressures have resulted in a lot of players being paid under the table. There is no requirement that you have a scholarship to play a sport. As long as you are a student at the university you are eligible to try out.