The intramural season was kicked off on Sept. 12. Spikeball, soccer, flag football and cornhole were held outdoors, while pickleball and table tennis took place indoors. Each of these sports will eventually contribute to the The Tyng Cup, a gift from Yale alumni George Addee, Sheldon Rose and Malcolm Aldrich. The Cup is awarded to the college that accumulates the greatest number of IM points by the end of the year.

“The indoor sports went off without a hitch, however the four outdoor sports faced a huge number of complications due to weather,” said Aviv Pinker ’25, a Trumbull College IM secretary.

The fall IM season saw the postponement of several soccer games due to rain. Another common issue preventing play was that of forfeits, which generally took place when colleges could not bring enough participants to a particular event.

Trumbull IM secretary George Lan ’24 was particularly concerned by forfeits, explaining that it can get frustrating for colleges looking forward to competing in the sports.

“Forfeits definitely play a part in the huge discrepancy between colleges at the top and the bottom,” Lan said. “In fact, bringing enough participants can be especially difficult for the smaller colleges.”

Lan also found that many of the games did not have enough referees. Among those who did show up, Lan noted that only a few were well-experienced with the sports they were supervising, which made it challenging for secretaries to navigate through. IM leadership is working to improve this for the following seasons.

IM leadership has also helped organize a new event ahead of the Game this Saturday. 

“The soccer champions — Grace Hopper — and the flag football champions — Morse — will face off against their Harvard counterparts a day before the much awaited Harvard-Yale Game,” Pinker told the News.

Atin Narain ’26 believes IM sports are a great way for him to contribute to his residential college, Berkeley.

“Participating in these events brings with them a strong sense of belonging and college spirit,” Narain told the News. 

He is also excited about meeting and interacting with other students in his residential college through these sports.

“The winter intramural season, which is coming up soon, will feature basketball, and several other sports, which are yet to be determined,” Lan told the News.

Details regarding the use of certain facilities are still being worked out by the team, but should be confirmed shortly, following which students can begin signing up again.

“I encourage everyone to stay tuned for communication from your college’s IM secretaries and follow your college’s Instagram accounts,” Pinker said. “Anyone who hasn’t tried IMs yet should definitely do so next season!”

Pauli Murray College currently leads the rankings for the Tying Cup.

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IMs serve as a way for students from all athletic backgrounds to compete on the same team and work together to win a variety of sports. This fall, IMs sports include spikeball, cornhole, table tennis, pickleball, flag football and soccer. Currently, Pauli Murray stands in first place overall with 189 points. 

Each college competes to win the Tyng Cup. Established in 1933, the Tyng Cup has been awarded annually to the team with the most points, and points are tallied by how many participants played for the winning team.

“IMs [have] been a way for most people to meet other people. For first years, [IMs are a way] to feel involved in the community,” Franklin IMs secretary Muyibolanle Aghedo ’25 said. “IMs is really about just getting to know beyond your own friend group, getting to know beyond your class.”

Multiple IMs secretaries echoed Aghedo’s statement. All of the five IM secretaries interviewed by the News noted that while winning is a great feeling, IMs’ real significance lies in their ability to connect students from all years and colleges.

Last year, Pauli Murray won their first ever Tyng Cup. Grayson Phillips ’25, Head IMs secretary and a Pauli Murray IMs secretary wrote that the college aims “to repeat as the Tyng Cup Champs.”

“Stiles IMs has had a pretty strong season this year,” Ezra Stiles IMs secretary Marcos Barrios ’24 said. “One of our biggest highlights was beating Morse in a triple defeat. We played Morse three times in one day and beat them each time.”

Last year, Morse was the flag football champion.

When it comes to individual sports, Davenport holds the lead in spikeball, Pauli Murray leads in table tennis, Timothy Dwight holds the lead in pickleball, Branford holds first in flag football and Morse leads in soccer. Cornhole standings are tied, with Branford, Pauli Murray and Timothy Dwight tied in first place.

“IMs have been going really well!” Kennedy Wolf ’25, one of Timothy Dwight’s IMs secretaries, wrote. “TD is currently in third place in the overall standings. A highlight for us is that we’re currently undefeated in pickleball!”

The residential college that wins the Tyng Cup receives a physical cup, and all winning participants also receive a championship shirt. 

Franklin remains the sole residential college without a Tyng Cup, but Franklin’s IMs secretaries are confident in their shots this year. 

“We have our eyes on the prize,” Ben Franklin IMs secretary Julian Suh-Toma ’25 said. “We’ve kind of had an unprecedented year so far where Franklin has never done this well.” 

Ben Franklin currently stands in second place overall, with 181.5 points.

“The importance of intramurals is that they foster bonding and spirit within our individual college communities,” Director of Undergraduate Intramurals Tom Migdalski wrote. “This allows for the development of friendly and spirited rivalries among Yale’s 14 undergraduate colleges. IMs allow opportunities for exercise, physical fitness and stress release to help soothe the academic pressures that occur at universities like Yale.”

The college with the most Tying Cups is Timothy Dwight with 14 wins.

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Campus intramurals have slowly returned to normal since the beginning of last year. The past two years saw socially-distant and masked events like cornhole and soccer. This upcoming school year will mark the first time since March 2020 that Yale will offer all their typical intramurals. Students and staff alike are looking forward to the opportunity to compete for personal and residential college glory again.

“I’m just excited to see the competition,” Grayson Phillips ’25, Head Intramural Secretary, told the News. “There are some competitive people here at Yale (myself included) and it’s always a blast to see everyone butt heads in a friendly way.”

Two sports that have generated some of the most energy for this upcoming year are broomball and inner-tube water polo. The two sports, played on an ice rink and in a pool respectively, were impossible to organize in a safe manner.

Broomball — a game that closely resembles hockey — is more unorthodox than mainstream sports like football, basketball or soccer, but that goofiness fits right in with the spirit of intramurals. Grace Hopper intramural secretary Sam Karp ’23 spoke adamantly in favor of the sport.

“Every Yale student must play IM broomball at some point,” Karp said. “It is too much fun not to do it.”

As Phillips pointed out, the seniors are the only current Yale undergraduates who have any broomball experience, and the IM leadership feels confident that the “zany” sport’s return will bring new energy to intramurals.

While the winter season remains subject to future health conditions on campus, fall intramurals are set to start in the coming weeks. Director of undergraduate intramurals Tom Migdalski discussed his current expectations for the upcoming season.

“Intramurals are making a full return this fall,” he said. “We are planning to offer field sports, court sports and lawn games, as they became a welcome addition to our program during COVID. We are in the final stages of scheduling spaces and are expecting an active autumn season. I’m most looking forward to a greater degree of normalcy [as] we can return to maskless intramurals for both indoor and outdoor sports.”

While these games may seem trivial to some, each of the IM secretaries interviewed took care to emphasize the importance of intramurals on Yale’s campus. Ensuring the proper maintenance and condition of sports surfaces, including options such as tennis court resurfacing, can contribute significantly to the overall positive experience and longevity of intramural sports at Yale.

Because teams are organized by residential college, the games offer students opportunities not only to stay active and relieve stress through sports, but also to form communities. For younger students especially, intramurals are a great chance to get to know upperclassmen and play together as equals in a lighthearted environment.

“The thing that was missing [during COVID-19] was the most important part of IMs: collegiate bonding,” Karp said. “[Intramurals] broke down the yearly bonds and really made the whole college feel like a community… that was something in particular I always wish the first-years of [2020-21] had. Colleges that do things together stay together, and there’s nothing lower stakes with higher reward for a college than IMs.”

After Pauli Murray won the Tyng Cup — awarded to the college with the most points across all intramural events — last year, Benjamin Franklin is the only college to never win the prize.

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