With 5,000 student participants – and another 1,000 drawn from faculty, staff, and community – Campus Recreation is a huge success story, says intramurals coordinator Josh Leeman.

That success won plaudits last week, as the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Intramural Recreation Association recognized the University of Windsor with its Outstanding Intramural Achievement Award for the sixth straight year. The award honours programs that offer varied activities, promote fair play and build leadership capacity.

“It’s a great recognition of what our students do,” Leeman said. “Our program is all about student employees creating opportunities for other students to get active.”

The intramurals program runs 21 different sports, ranging from ice hockey to soccer, from ultimate frisbee to innertube water polo.

“About one-third of our student body plays on a team and that number has gone up seven years in a row,” said Leeman.

He cited several reasons for the growth in participation, including the exemplary success of Lancer varsity teams, a promotional push to target international students, and the development of innovative new program offerings.

“Our new ball hockey rink attracted interest and we’re working on lighting and nets for a beach volleyball venue,” he said. “European handball in the Education Gym has proven very popular and new in the fall—underwater hockey!”

Athletics director Gord Grace called the association’s award well deserved.

“This is another in a long list of awards for the Campus Rec department under leadership of manager Sandra Ondracka,” he said.

In addition to intramural sports, Campus Recreation offers fitness classes and instructional programs in everything from swimming to aikido to ballroom dance.