The annual Winter Study intramural (IM) basketball league has exploded in popularity this year, welcoming more teams and a new women’s league. 

“Intramurals existed here on campus before my time,” said Assistant Director of Club Sports and Intramurals Kris Hoey. She estimates that they began around the opening of the Lasell Gymnasium in the 1880s. 

Last year, 21 teams — around 200 students — competed, according to Hoey, with several weeks of pool play games and a playoff bracket.

This year, however, IM basketball’s popularity has grown, with approximately 372 students participating.

 “It’s definitely on steroids this year,” Hoey said. 

The uptick in interest forced Hoey to make some tough decisions. “There was a strong demand this year to be part of the league,” she said. “I had to make some choices about [whether it is] better to let in more teams but have slightly shorter games or have longer games [and fewer] teams… There’s a finite amount of time and space.” 

In the end, Hoey decided to admit 30 teams into this year’s IM league and was forced to deny entry to eight teams. She shortened games from 24 minutes to 15 minutes with a running clock and created two divisions: a 20-team co-ed league and a 10-team women’s league. Teams faced off on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays from Jan. 7 to Jan. 21. Playoffs are slated to conclude on Thursday. “Crossovers” were also built into the schedule, allowing teams from the two leagues to play against each other in unofficial games.

Hoey attributed much of the popularity of this year’s IM basketball to the creation of the new women’s league. Last year, two all-women teams competed in the open pool. Claire Newhall ’25 competed on the “Hoop Hopping Lax Legends” team — made up of members of the women’s lacrosse team — last year and serves as its captain this year. “Since there was only one other women’s team last year, we just played with all the men’s teams,” Newhall said. “It’s been really fun being in the women’s league this year because it is a little bit more competitive.” 

The open league has also seen dynamic play, according to Toby Foehl ’25, captain of “Hillman’s Heros,” a team largely made up of men’s golf players and their friends.

“There have been moments in that gym during IM games where it gets as loud as it gets during [varsity] basketball games,” he said. “Every year since [my first year], IM has just gotten bigger and bigger.”

According to Cameron Lee ’25, captain of “The Birds,” the level of play has improved in tanden with the league’s growth. 

“The last two years, we went undefeated and dominated everyone,” Lee said. “This year, the league is more competitive.” 

‘The Birds’’’ season has showcased this new competitive spirit, as the team — made up of receivers on the football team — lost a game for the first time in three years. Still, its pursuit of a third straight IM championship remains intact.

Many IM basketball players are varsity athletes in different sports: Lee, Foehl, and Newhall all lead teams composed primarily of varsity athletes. Football, men and women’s lacrosse, baseball, track, field hockey, and men and women’s crew all have at least one team across the two leagues. 

“It’s a competitive sport that we can do away from football,” Lee said. “But still getting that competitive spirit out of us is fun.” 

Newhall agreed that IM basketball was a more relaxed outlet for her lacrosse teammates. 

Non-varsity athletes, however, also play a crucial role in the IM scene. “IM basketball has been one of the highlights of my Williams experience,” said Harlan Warnsman ’27, captain of the “Business Handlers.”

“As students not on varsity teams, my friends and I love having the opportunity to channel our competitive energy into a campus-wide event that brings much of the community together,” he said. 

Players across several teams who spoke with the Record agreed that Hoey was integral to IM basketball’s success. “My sophomore year was before [Hoey] took over,” Lee said. “There were more randomized times for games, [and] there were only two refs, so it’s definitely more organized now.” 

“[Hoey] just works very hard to make sure it all runs smoothly,” Foehl added. 

“There are quite a few things that go into [IM], even if it might not seem like it on the outside,” Hoey acknowledged.

League rules, game timing, and referee assignments all need to be organized before the tournament can start. Hoey has created a master spreadsheet with a schedule, results, team rosters, and league standings. This sheet — the “SSS” (Schedules, Scores, and Standings), as it is called — is updated every few days, accompanied by an in-depth and gregarious email written by Hoey that is sent to every IM participant. Hoey’s emails, which are full of jokes and elaborate recaps of previous games, embody her goal with IM Basketball — to create a vibrant space on campus during January.

 “By far my favorite part [of IM basketball] is the excitement that everyone brings,” Hoey said. “Whether it’s getting excited about uniforms or having their coach come all decked in coaching attire or having fans come, I just love the energy and excitement that people bring to IMs… The pure joy of all people, just excited to compete together.”