Students display their shirts after the faculty/staff vs students kickball game. Photo courtesy of UHCL Campus Recreation and Wellness.

Kickball: A good omen of things to come

By Justin Murphy Last updated May 21, 2019 1,677 0

Friday the 13th is usually a day reserved for spooky events. However, April 13 students got to interact with members of the UHCL faculty and staff community outside of the classroom.

Campus Recreation and Wellness put on a faculty and staff vs. students kickball game at the Delta fields to help bring the two communities together.

Three games were played between faculty/staff and students. The first game saw the students take an early lead, they never relinquished it and beat the faculty and staff by a score of 9-3. In the second game, the faculty and staff beat the students by a score of 2-0. In the rubber match of the series, the faculty and staff took a late lead and beat the students 2-1.

While it was fun to compete against the faculty and staff, the most significant thing that I took away from this event was how nice it was to interact with employees of the university differently.

The faculty/staff vs. students kickball game showcased that UHCL needs events like this to bring forth more involvement from students. If UHCL can develop activities that are fun-natured, then hopefully more students will participate and further engage with faculty and staff.

For example, at the kickball game the Dean of Students David Rachita, showed up to play against students. How often is it that students are presented with the opportunity to interact with the dean of students in a way that is not related to the student conduct code? By interacting with him at the kickball game, students were able to see that he is just another person like the rest of us and not just an authority figure.

Also in attendance were members of counseling services, professors and staff from multiple offices on campus. I had never met a lot of the people who showed up. Through the kickball game, I was able to interact with them in a manner that is fun and carefree –besides the competitiveness.

UHCL needs more events like kickball to showcase the kind-hearted nature of the majority of our faculty and staff.

With the upcoming arrival of the Recreation and Wellness Center, Campus Recreation and Wellness should have plenty more opportunities to put on events like the kickball game. However, other campus departments should look for opportunities to give students and employees of UHCL the ability to interact in a fun way.