‘All in Good Fun’: Camaraderie and Competition in Harvard’s Club and Intramural Sports
In more than a dozen interviews with The Crimson, participants in club and intramural sports described the motivation as camaraderie and competition — not success.
Early in the fall semester, John P. Phillips ’26 and Thomas A. Tait ’26 found themselves scrambling to rally a team of Eliot House residents for an important house affair: a Tuesday night intramural ultimate frisbee game in bad weather.
Their call to action was answered — behind a valiant effort from five inexperienced ultimate frisbeers, Eliot overcame an early 0–3 deficit to eke out a win.
Tait, an intramural house representative for Eliot, attributed the win to his teammates’ fearlessness.
“People aren’t scared to come out and just come try something, right?” Tait said. “They understand the wider purpose. They feel that connection to the house and are willing to come and do that at 10 o’clock on a Tuesday night — which is pretty sick.”
Eliot would go on to win the fall intramural ultimate frisbee title to cap a storybook undefeated season. Hans O. Elasri ’26, a member of the Tuesday night miracle team, returned to action for the championship game later in the fall.
“Me and my roommates had lost our voices from yelling and celebrating good points. So we ended up getting super into it, even though, at the end of the day, I don’t really care if we win ultimate frisbee,” Elasri said.
For Harvard undergraduates, the College’s intramural sports scene offers a break from the grind of academic and pre-professional pursuits. An organized system of weekly competition between Harvard’s 12 upperclassmen Houses in sports ranging from volleyball to innertube water polo, IMs are a yearlong battle for the ultimate prize: the Straus Cup.
Some houses, like Eliot, are perennial IM powerhouses. Others, like Adams House, struggle to field rosters. Still, Adams IM representative Malachi C. Miller ’27 said having space for something so “low stakes” offers a fun opportunity for lighthearted competition.
“People at Harvard are really competitive,” Miller said. “And I don’t think there’s a lot of opportunities to randomly do things like that at Harvard. So yeah, I’m going to do it because it’s fun. It’s a good time, and also it’s really funny to just lose over and over.”
Harvard’s undergraduate athletic scene also extends beyond competition organized by the College, with a robust lineup of niche club sports ranging from curling to kendo.
In more than a dozen interviews with The Crimson, participants in IM and club sports described the improvised and spontaneous nature of Harvard’s amateur athletic landscape.
To them, success is secondary. Instead, participation is motivated by the offering of camaraderie and competition in an environment where mediocrity and inexperience are the norm.
‘Pretty Goofy’
For recreational IMs and club sport athletes, expectations of incompetence offer an athletic space for anyone who wishes to compete, regardless of background or experience.
Because participants can struggle while learning new sports together, the IM and club sport landscape is “a lot more accessible,” according to Elasri.
For competition in unconventional sports like inner tube water polo, nobody is granted the advantage of experience.
Elasri, who recently competed in the IM inner tube water polo tournament, described it as the “pinnacle” of his IM experience — mostly because of the bonding that happened outside the water.
“We had a two-hour break for lunch, and instead of everyone just milling about, the team stays together,” Elasri said. “And we’re discussing strategy for inner tube water polo for an hour at the table while eating.”
Broomball, an IM spin on hockey that replaces sticks with brooms, skates with shoes, and pucks with inflatable balls, is another sport where inexperience is paramount to having fun.
“It’s pretty goofy,” Dunster IM representative Max V. Semegran ’25 said. “I don’t think anyone is actually really good at Broomball. I think there are just people who have the confidence to run as fast as you can on the ice, and those who are very nervous, and rightly so.”
“Having fun and being confident goes a long way,” he added.
The club sports scene also offers a selection of sports where every athlete is a newcomer. At the Harvard Curling Club, most members are trying their hand at “chess on ice” for the first time, according to Captain Ethan L. Jasny ’25.
“It’s such a fun, unique thing,” Jasny said. “We’re not bad — obviously — but it’s all about getting somebody to try, trying your best, and being in a super safe space to try it.”
While they may once have known nothing about curling, members now opt into six or seven tournaments each year. Some even began competing against adults in a local club league.
Unfamiliarity is also common for members of the Harvard Kendo Club. President Roxy M. Cumming ’25 said none of the current members had any prior knowledge of the sport, making the frustrating learning experience universal.
According to Cumming, the camaraderie of the Kendo Club helps its members overcome the sport’s steep learning curve.
“I think, especially in the beginning, kendo is really fun, but it’s also really hard. There’s a very steep learning curve, so you’ve got to just stick with it in the beginning,” Cumming said.
‘A Beautiful Sport’
Despite the low stakes and visibility of IM and some club sports operations, organizers and participants often find themselves committing significant time and effort to the activities, including frequent practices and occasional out-of-state travel to compete in regional and national tournaments.
The college’s quadball team, which engages in a practical adaptation of the principles of Quidditch from the Harry Potter franchise, regularly sends its team across the country to compete against other colleges.
“When we go to nationals, which we won last year — we’re the reigning national champions — we played against a lot of Texas schools,” Semegran, a co-captain of the quadball team, said. “Texas has a really strong quadball scene.”
Every August, the Kendo Club travels to Tokyo for a week to participate in a boot camp at a partner university, which helps with team bonding, according to captain Alex K. Karbowski ’25.
“We had a week of intense practices, and then after the last practice, we were, like, ‘Yay, everything’s done,’” Karbowski said. “And we did karaoke in Tokyo, and sang until three or something. That was a really nice memory. This is really cliche, but it’s been about the friends I made along the way.”
For Harvard Cricket Club Captain Abdullah Shahid Sial ’27, increasing awareness among peers is part of what makes cricket a “beautiful sport.” Reflecting on his time with the club, Shahid recalled the fulfillment of watching members double down on their commitment to cricket.
“For me, it’s a very sacred sport. It holds an important piece in my heart,” he said. “I’ve see it changing lives.”
Cumming, the Kendo Club president, also spoke to how kendo helped her personal development outside of the sport.
“Harvard is obviously very focused on academics,” she said. “I feel like the Kendo Club is focused on developing your skills and abilities as a person, and how you define yourself, and what you’re about. Those are what I have learned during kendo — who I want to be as a person.”
In IM competition, the fluid rosters and frequent matches mean undergraduates often work with students whom they have never met. Currier IM representative Alexander J. Stone ’26 said he made most of his friends in the house through intramurals.
“IMs are cool because it’s the people you see around every single day,” Stone said. “Anyone can go out and represent their house in some sport, whatever they want to play.”
Because of the time many athletes commit to IMs, the competition between houses can often be fierce. According to Stone, rivalries between houses can get “a little more toxic in the playoffs.”
“I don’t really know how Winthrop feels about us, but they knocked us out in the soccer tournament and beat us in the flag football championship,” he said. “So, we just hate Winthrop. But it’s all in good fun.”
While Currier was left disgruntled by the results of the season, Winthrop IM representative Jason Y. Kwak ’26 said his house had no hard feelings.
“It’s unfortunate to hear they have beef with us,” Kwak said. “We think they’re a competitive team, and it just didn’t go their way this year. Or last year. Or the year before that.”
Speaking to the intensity of IM competition, Quincy IM representative Emil R. Massad ’25 recounted the “incredible” final point of a hotly contested ultimate frisbee final against Kirkland House.
“We were tied, and whoever won the last point won the whole thing, the whole tournament,” he said. After clinching the title with a late score, the Quincy team reveled in the victory, according to Massad.
“Everybody went berserk,” he said.
‘People Want to Compete’
For some, strong participation and fierce competition are indicative of the healthy state of recreational sports on Harvard’s campus.
Ethan J. Hooper ’25, who serves as the IM commissioner and is tasked with fulfilling the logistical operations of intramural sports, said the competitive parity between houses makes “people want to win.”
“It’s still anyone’s game at this point,” he said. “People want to compete. And people are asking me, ‘Hey, how can I get people in my house more committed and showing up?’”
According to Hooper, the will to win has translated into an eagerness to compete.
“We’ve seen a huge decrease in forfeits across the board just through our regular season,” Hooper said. “Our participation has been great across the board. We get people from every house at every tournament.”
Niche club sports have also experienced growing student interest — Shahid said the Cricket Club received unprecedented interest from this year’s freshman class, and he now has to trim a roster of 25 people to an 11-person team for each tournament.
The Kendo Club, which had only one returning member three years ago, according to Karbowski, now fields a roster of 15. This upcoming spring, the club will host the 27th annual Shoryuhai — the biggest intercollegiate kendo tournament in the U.S.
The club is also aided by a strong alumni network, which provides the club “help and support and contact” according to Cumming.
“We’re very much an intergenerational club,” Cumming said, adding that alumni “are the first ones to respond” when the group asks for feedback on its operations.
For Hooper — who spends hours every week booking facilities, finding referees, deliberating on rules, and liaising between houses — seeing the passion with which IM athletes compete makes his efforts worthwhile.
“I think it’s fun when I get to look at it and see all the people who are involved, and see the fans on the sideline, and be like, ‘This is something I get to be a part of and create each week,’” he said.