Rec & Sports
Did you know? The New School has co-ed Intramural sports: Basketball in the fall, and Volleyball and Soccer in the Spring. Also, the Office of Intramural Sports and Recreation offers Meditation, Salsa, Yoga, Tai Chi, and Karate — all for free to degree students!
Check the Rec & Sports Website, or read the interview with Director Michael McQuarrie below.
New School Plays Ball
Intramural director McQuarrie looks ahead
BY ELISA DELJANIN — New School Free Press 2/7/09
In December 2008, Michael McQuarrie was appointed the Director of Intramurals and Recreation at The New School. Since his appointment, McQuarrie has conducted surveys online, asked students what they wanted, and visited the small handful of recreation classes offered.
ED: Where did you go to school?
MM: Undergrad I went to Elon University, it’s a small school in North Carolina. And I have not yet completed but worked on my graduate degree at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. My major was sociology and my minor was leisure sports management, and my grad work was in sociology. I also teach sociology.
ED: What did you do before you came to The New School?
MM: Immediately before I was at St. John’s University and I was coordinator of intramurals. So as opposed to here where I’m running other different kinds of recreation activities, I was more focused on team and individual sporting events there.
ED: And what do you plan to bring to The New School as the sports and recreation coordinator?
MM: I hope to bring more options for people. I’ve gotten the feeling that there is some need for it but it’s not overriding. It’s not like every student wants it…There’s a lot of people that, even on some of the surveys I’ve gotten…that ask “Why are we doing sports? This is university” or “Why is The New School using money on these activities?” There is definitely a feeling of that but the majority seems to be more towards the other side.
ED: What interested you in The New School? In the students?
MM: Their willingness to stand up and say something, their willingness to think outside the box, I know it’s a cliché term but it still applies. This school obviously draws from a much wider area, both nationally and internationally.
ED: What do the students at the New School have to look forward to in the Spring?
MM: We have the Chelsea Piers that OSDA was running in the fall, [which was] adjusted over to my office. I can attempt to do a hiking trip, at least one one-day hiking trip. Whether it’s Bear Mountain, the Delaware Water gap, or something within a one-day drive. A white-water rafting trip up to the Adirondacks, the upper Hudson River, those are the outdoor rec trips I’m going to try this spring. What we will be doing at some point are dodgeball tournaments in the Lang courtyard.
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