 "Photo:")
Faculty and students alike will be pulling an all-nighter in the Student Activities Center this Saturday.
The Intramural Department at the University of Louisville will be hosting its 17th annual Late Night with IM Sports.
The Intramural Sports Department will provide many exciting activities for students to partake in, ranging from playing the Wii on a wall-sized screen to an All-Star basketball game. One of the main goals of the event is to rid students of cabin fever.
Due to the hectic schedule that students and faculty members endure during the spring semester, Intramurals decided it needed something to spice things up. Since there are many leagues and tournaments in the spring, but nothing that could be considered a signature event, it was decided that "Up All Night" would fill the position.
With more than 500 students in attendance last year, Assistant Director of Intramural Sports John Smith is confident many students who participated in the past will be repeat attendees. While the numbers are an exciting topic, the focus of the event is mostly on the student's experience.
This year, Intramurals has made the competitions even more thrilling with the chance to win great prizes. The biggest prize to be awarded is $5,000 to the winner of the Dunk contest. Four students will be given the chance to shoot a full court shot, with the one who gets the closest, or better yet makes it, declared the winner. A special edition of Halo Three, along with Halo Three shirts and many other prizes, will be given away throughout the night.
This year will continue the tradition of the Fraternity Intramural Free-Throw contest uniting with "Up All Night," and Greek points will be awarded.
Senior sports administration major Zach Brooks was drawn in by the appeal of winning points for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, by way of competing in the free-throw event.
"We had a lot of people from SAE come out and really enjoyed the event," Brooks said. "It's a good way to show off the facilities we have to offer and possibly draw some students out who may not always make it down to the gym."
Brooks isn't the only one who worries about attracting student's attention.
"This is a very unique and special event because it brings students from many different groups together at the same time. There will be a large contingent of Greeks here as well as a large group of campus resident students," Smith said. "There will be a big group of the "gaming community" and a lot of students who will just drop in to see what's going on. Very few events on campus seem to bring as wide a group of students together as this one."
Another unique element of the event is the special judges that will be attending. New Dean of Students, Dr. Michael Mardis will be there, which excites Smith. ?
"It's funny, Dr. Mardis was a graduate assistant in our department and was one of the people that helped put the very first Late Night together 17 years ago," Smith said. "Now he's going to be a celebrity judge."?
"Up All Night" is becoming a recognized tradition at U of L, one that will no doubt continue to grow.
Be the first to comment on this article!