UC Davis intramural program provides students a fun, casual way to participate in sports

Among the many extracurricular opportunities that UC Davis offers is the year-round Campus Recreation and Unions’ (CRU) intramural sports (IM) program. The program is open to all students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as staff members.

“In general, every quarter there [are] new sports,” said Jessica Ross, fifth-year psychology and statistics double major and student manager of Competitive Sports. “There’s Quidditch, inner tube water polo, soccer — it’s basically just a whole quarter of fun where any student could sign up, join a team [and] play.”

According to students, IM sports are not only a great way to get exercise, but also make friends.

“Last quarter, I played [IM] soccer with the people on my floor,” said first-year civil engineering major Heriberto Melgoza. “It was a great bonding experience and a great way to start my UC Davis career.”

IM’s offer a cheaper alternative to clubs sports, ranging from $10 per individual to $50 for a team. For freshmen in particular, IM’s are especially convenient — and free.

“[IM’s] are definitely a great way to make friends, especially [during] freshman year,” Ross said. “There’s a bunch of [resident advisors] that create teams for their dorms. Afterwards, [the students are] all […] in the same spot so they go to the [dining commons] together. Also [it’s] just great exercise.”

Most intramural games are 30 to 40 minutes long and can easily fit into a student’s schedule.

“It’s one of the best ways, in my opinion, to destress on campus,” said Competitive Sports Supervisor and fourth-year communication major Daniel Gonzalez. “It has its competitive side, but also has its recreational side where it’s just for fun. There’s a range for pretty much anyone — people who have played [and] people who haven’t played before.”

To register for a team, students need to ensure that their quarterly student fees are paid. Students can then sign up and create or join a team on the UC Davis CRU website.

The IM program is student-run, with the exception of a few full-time faculty members, and therefore caters well to its student participants.

“The managers are students, the referees are students and then you have the students playing,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just a completely different environment than playing in a city league. It’s a lot more of a relaxed feel, and everyone’s just having fun.”

This social vibe is what seems to draw in many students who participate in IM’s.

“I decided to join IM’s because I wanted to interact and socialize with the people on my floor,” Melgoza said. “We just started having fun together, and after […] games, […] we’d walk to downtown, we’d hang out more and go out together.”

The convenience of IM’s is another perk for students who do not have the time to commute to far-away practices and games.

“[The program] is really flexible, that’s the main thing,” Ross said. “You don’t have to drive to Sacramento, you can just come to the [Activities and Recreation Center] for […] one hour a week and play your game.”

Although the IM scene is considered casual, many students take the competition very seriously.

“Some teams […] practice on their own,” Ross said. “They […] get together afterwards and beforehand, so it’s really what you make of it.”

Though not all teams practice outside of the program, intramurals still inspire players to embrace the team aspect.

“[For soccer, our] pre-game ritual would be [to] show up as a group,” Melgoza said. “We’d start warming up together. Game time starts and we’re all just in it to have fun and just enjoy the time.”

As a Competitive Sports supervisor, Gonzalez does his best to stay fully active in IM’s by participating in the program.

“I’m like Mr. IM’s,” Gonzalez said. “I play every IM every quarter […] as much as I can.”

The program offers standard sports such as soccer, basketball and football, but it also has less common sports including dodgeball, Quidditch and even inner tube water polo. Inner tube water polo is a popular spring quarter IM among experienced and inexperienced students.

“You can flip each other […] in a safe environment,” Ross said. “Even after the game, no matter what the score [is], people are still like, ‘Oh wow, that was a really weird experience that we all did.’ They all hang out in the jacuzzi afterwards. It’s just a nice […] friendly competition.”

The IM program at UC Davis also hosts events such as Poker Palooza and tournaments over the weekends for sports like cornhole, badminton and pickleball.

“The winner goes on the wall [in the ARC], which is a big deal,” Ross said. “It’s a competition. People email us like two days after [their win asking], ‘When is my picture going up?’ all the time.”

All is fair in fun and sports, but that does not deter IM champions from basking in the glory of their victories.

“I’ve been on the wall like five or six times,” Gonzalez said.

Written by: Allyson Tsuji – features@theaggie.org

National and international students discuss what it means to feel American

Fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Nene Takahashi sits at a blue table on the Coffee House patio, trying her best to keep warm in the bitter winter cold. She’s dressed in Lululemon athletic clothing, and fiddles with the sleeve of her jacket as she talks on her iPhone with a friend. She blends in easily with the American students around her. Upon first glance, hardly anything would give away the fact that she’s really an international student on an F1 visa.

Takahashi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, before she moved to Davis — on her own — as a college freshman.

The reason she blends in? As a child, Takahashi attended The American School in Japan. She knew that, like many of her peers, she’d someday travel to the United States for university-level education, and perhaps even spend the rest of her adult life there.

“Actually, I wouldn’t be able to live in Japan, I think,” Takahashi said. “Though Japanese was my first language, I’m more fluent in English, especially with my science major and background. I wouldn’t be able to communicate scholarly in Japanese. And as a hopeful pre-med, I knew that I wanted to begin my career as a doctor here in the U.S.”

Takahashi believes her experience is a little uncommon, especially when compared to those of other international students at Davis. There are 2,813 international students at UC Davis, making up 10 percent of the undergraduate student population. Their backgrounds are incredibly diverse, and yet most are united in their experience of America as a foreign country with new people and a newer culture. Among them, Takahashi appears to be in the minority: she has never experienced a total culture shock, and developed a familiarity with American culture early in life.

“I understand the nuances here. I have an understanding of American sarcasm, jokes and trends. Nothing was too different when I came here,” Takahashi said. “I knew about American culture, and how people use body language here. People often touch each other when they’re telling a joke, which I think is very different than in most Asian cultures.”

Ironically, one of Takahashi’s closest friends, fourth-year Tanvi Desai, was more surprised by American life than Takahashi was, and technically she isn’t even an international student — she’s a national (out-of-state) student. Desai is an American citizen by birth but an Indian at heart. She left her hometown in the Indian state of Gujarat and moved to U.S. just fifteen days before starting college.

“Before moving, I was sure that my experience in the U.S. wasn’t going to be anything like India, and it really isn’t,” Desai said. “Back home, I had a 7 p.m. curfew and I always had to have girlfriends with me; there was no going out with boys alone. Over here, people are more open about everything. Girls are comfortable hanging out with boys all the time, and in India that would be a no-no.”

Still, newfound American freedom didn’t prevent Desai from missing home — at least, not for long. Once the excitement of attending a new school faded away, she realized she was lacking a convenience afforded to so many of her peers: traveling home. For California residents, a trip home is cheap and doable, and that’s often not true for out-of-state or out-of-country students. Desai can only see her immediate family in the summers, and even that has proven more difficult as she’s gotten older.

“I didn’t realize it freshman year, but now I realize how much it helps to go back home, even just for a weekend,” Desai said. “I do have some friends that I can stay with, but it’s not the same. I have to Skype or Facetime my family. That’s something that’s very difficult because I’m very close to my parents, so to stay away from them for four years has been one of the greatest challenges of my life.”

According to Dr. Wesley Young, director of Services for International Students and Scholars (SISS), such homesickness is a common experience for new students, and one that UC Davis takes into consideration with the SISS program. SISS aids students in traveling to the country safely and with proper documentation, but continues to provide support even after arrival.

“We want to make sure that our international population feels welcomed when they come to Davis, and feels connected to the community,” Young said. “The theory there is if you’re connected, if you feel welcome, if you have friends, you’re going to be happier and more likely to achieve the academic goals that you came for.”

The program has several resources designed specifically for supporting students in their new environment, academically and emotionally. SISS helps organize comprehensive International and National Student Orientations and extended orientations on Smartsite. Students are often invited to participate in events geared towards engaging in campus and community life. SISS advisers provide information for academic or legal concerns (such as a change of major, failure of a class or immigration), and counselor Dr. Sheetal Shah assists with students’ emotional challenges.

“When we have a student that’s in distress, whether it’s culture shock, homesickness or not performing as they expected, that puts a lot of additional stress on them because they often don’t have a network of support,” said Dr. Tammy J. Silver, assistant director of SISS. “We have someone who can talk to them and help them to work through that. [Shah] has been a very beneficial resource and students utilize her to help them manage their stress and cope.”

While neither Takahashi nor Desai have consulted a counselor like Shah during their time at Davis, they suggest that feeling connected to the school and developing a network of friends is vital to create a positive and memorable time at UC Davis. They’ve found each other, and rely on their friends to acclimate to the culture. Both, however, feel that they’ll never be truly American, and will always feel a connection to their homes.

“At the end of the day, I’m Japanese; I’m not American,” Takahashi said. “I’m going to live here in America, but just because I can’t be fully Japanese by living and learning in Japan, doesn’t mean I can let go of my culture.”
Written by: Anjali Bhat — features@theaggie.org

UC Davis students participate in the UC Davis Cadet Academy

The UC Davis Cadet Academy provides an opportunity for graduating seniors to learn more about law enforcement, forensics, criminology and more.

Each year, the academy receives about 30 applicants, with around 25 cadets staying on throughout the program.

“These are students that are interested in law enforcement, whether they want to work in law enforcement or [whether they] want to know what law enforcement is about,” said UC Davis police officer Ray Holguin. “This academy follows all the regular learning domains of a regular police academy.”

Helen Schulz, fourth-year fiber and polymer science major and cadet, heard about the cadet academy through her student job as an Aggie Host security officer.

“We do various security details for UC Davis. I’ve worked here for three years and I absolutely love the job,” Schulz said. “I’ve really become accustomed to working alongside the officers. That’s what kind of [drew] me toward [the cadet program].”

For about four months, the cadets attend the program each Thursday and Saturday.  On Thursdays, they alternate between two hours of physical activity and two hours of instruction. On Saturdays, they dedicate about eight hours to both academics and fitness.

“[The workouts] are really good but also really hard,” said fifth-year human development major and cadet Jennifer Sahagun. “They really

push you but they’re also really supportive and I really like that because it encourages me to give it my 100 percent.”

Each week the cadets learn about different aspects of law enforcement, including areas like ethics, professionalism, cultural diversity, burglary and gang awareness. These classes are taught by professionals ranging from police officers to defense attorneys to representatives from the UC Davis AB540 and Undocumented Student Center.

 “We had a couple detectives from the UC Davis police department come in and talk to us about sex crimes and crimes against children. [That] really got to me,” said fifth-year religious studies major and cadet Adam Santucci. “As law enforcement officers, they have to deal with that kind of stuff a lot and these two detectives were very nice, straightforward and very great people and that inspired me.”

In addition to academic and fitness classes, each cadet at the academy has to take on two projects outside the classroom. The first project is chosen by the cadet academy and the second is picked by the individual cadet.

“This year, we’re going to go to Fourth and Hope in Woodland, California [which is] transitional housing for a transient population,” Holguin said. “We’re going to cook food and serve them […] to give back for the community.

The UC Davis Cadet program is also free for participants; all cadets are asked to bring is a pair of black shoes.

“We know that they are students first. So, we pay for everything because it’s a luxury and a privilege to be a UC Davis student,” Holguin said. “We don’t want to burden them more and we want people that are interested in law enforcement. We don’t want to close the door to anybody, so everything is paid for.”

According to Holguin, UC Davis is the only university in the United States to offer such a cadet program.

“[We’re] the only ones, I believe, in the nation [who do it],” Holguin said. “This is our fourth year and we have officers not only at our police department, but also at different agencies throughout. We have students that are going on to be officers at LAPD, LA sheriff department, San Jose PD, Sac PD — we’ve got them all over, so they are […] going on to do better things.”

At the end of the academy, the chief will choose which cadet or cadets are offered a job. Sometimes, the chief will offer the cadet a sponsorship, which means that the UC Davis Police Department does not hire the cadet, but instead sends them to an academy and pays for it. Last year, the chief sponsored seven cadets and offered three jobs.  

“This cadet program is [also] a breeding ground for us. You have to hire within the community — law enforcement has to recruit from their own crowd,” Holguin said. “We’re saying these are students that are here, they love this university, they want to continue to protect this university, so why not? We want community-based officers so we’re hiring from our own.”

Written by: Fatima Siddiqui – features@theaggie.org