Del Mar gets brand new intramural director

Photos by Colby Farr/Foghorn

Kristy Urbick keeps track of score and organizes her paperwork to get ready for other matches while James Nesmith gets into the table tennis match.

Kristy Urbick is the new head of intramural sports for the spring semester, replacing Ryan Murphy.

Kinesiology Department chairwoman Judi Phillips said she’s excited about Urbick joining the staff.

“She’s bringing a great energy to the program and I think we’re going to grow with her,” Phillips said.

With kinesiology being involved in fewer degree plans in college, Urbick feels that intramural sports has a responsibility to stress the importance of fitness in today’s culture. Urbick said one of the biggest challenges will be gaining participation from students. She believes that if she can just get kids to show up and have fun, they might do it more often on their own time with friends.

Urbick said she plans to bring more attention to intramural sports at Del Mar by increasing advertisement for events and activities. The department will be “offering a lot of different things for different types of people,” Urbick said. She wants to “make it (intramural sports) more accessible to more people.”

Tyler Neimeier (right) serves up the pingpong ball across, starting the round and hoping to win the match.

Urbick hopes to accomplish this by taking advantage of social networking sites such as Facebook to reach out to students. Urbick plans to use an intramural sports page to post pictures of events and advertise schedules and announcements through Facebook.

Urbick plans to bring not just sports to the campus but activities as well, such as Giant Jenga. She hopes this will help build a community of kids and students who want to have fun in a noncompetitive way. She understands that a certain challenge will be gaining the participation of students. She plans to overcome this by explaining each activity to the student body and encouraging students to participate.

Urbick was inspired to major in kinesiology by her love for sports. She played basketball in college.

“I really wanted to be a coach,” Urbick said, “but then I realized, ehh, maybe I want to teach more.”

Urbick hasn’t looked back.

“I really enjoy teaching. I like talking to students and helping them reach their goals.” Urbick said.

Urbick, born in Stockton, California, in 1985, achieved her bachelor’s degree at Azusa Pacific University, located in Azusa, California, and her master’s degree at California Polytechnic State University, located in San Luis Obispo, California. She went on to teach at Citrus Community College for two years and at Basis Ahwatukee for two and a half years before coming to Corpus Christi. Urbick noted the difference between those colleges and Del Mar.

“So far I like it, I mean it’s definitely a smaller campus than what I’ve been at before but all the students and faculty have been very helpful and nice, and I’m feeling very comfortable.” Urbick said.

For more information on intramural sports, check out their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/DMCintramuralsports.

INTRAMURAL SCHEDULE

March 9: Dodgeball
March 17-April 2: NCAA March Madness
March 22: 3 Point/Hot Shot Contest
March 29: 5k Fun Run

March 30-April 14: 5v5 Basketball League
April 19-20: Frisbee Golf

April 21: 4v4 Flag Football Tournament
April 23: Racquetball Tournament