Significance of Intramural Tournaments

1.4.2 Significance of Intramural Tournaments

When the objectives above are met, intramural tournaments deliver real benefits to the participants. Conducted in a controlled setting with plenty of scope for all-round growth, they matter for several reasons.

Selection for extramural

Intramural competitions are the natural place to spot and select players or teams for higher, extramural events. Students reveal their skill and fitness here, and this becomes the basis on which a school team is chosen.

Group cohesion

Students from different classes and houses come together in one team, share experiences and learn cooperation and coordination. Mixing with peers from varied backgrounds builds self-confidence, social relationships and cultural tolerance.

Professional experience

Students often help to run the tournament — officiating, scoring and managing events. This hands-on experience is valuable for their future personal and professional life.

Health

Regular participation promotes a healthy, active lifestyle and contributes to the physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being of children.

Recreation

Because intramural activities are enjoyable rather than intensely competitive, they bring joy and entertainment, which is a large part of why they succeed.

Mass participation

These activities are meant for all students of the institution, not only for trained sportspersons.

Why significance is different from objectives. An objective is what the organisers set out to achieve before the tournament begins; the significance is the actual outcome that is observed once the event has run — the lived benefit to the student. For example, the objective of "building values" turns, in practice, into the significance of group cohesion, because it is only by actually playing together under pressure that students experience fair play and cooperation rather than merely being told about them. …