The reality is a hard-hitting one. For many incoming students at the University of Oregon, life and growing up, was centralized around sports. Summers were spent traveling to tournaments, a bag filled with practice attire was always by your side and Friday nights were meant for football under the lights.

If it hasn’t hit you yet, here’s the reality of the situation: Those days are gone.

The jump from high school to college is filled with a plethora of adjustments. The routine, is no longer revolved around whatever sport you played in high school. Now, it’s focused around school.

But deep, deep inside the core of any athlete is the need to play with a ball. Though it’s not sports in its purest form, the University of Oregon has options for any athlete to get a tiny fix of sports competition.

Intramural sports are a way to enjoy sports in a more laidback and stress-free environment.

There is no practice and minimal obligations aside from just showing up and playing. A loss in indoor soccer won’t make or break your weekend. It’s perfect for escaping the seven-page paper due and just running around and playing.

Also, for the first time in your life, you and the rest of your friends are in charge of the team. There is no coach focused solely on getting the “W” and nothing else. There is only a group of friends focused, on the most part, with having fun.

I personally have competed in an intramural sport every term since I’ve gone to the University of Oregon. Getting away from the stresses of daily life and the loaded class schedule to just play a sport has made my time easier and a lot less stressful.

Here are some ways to take advantage of the opportunity:

Try something new: If you’ve never played with a Frisbee before, the time is now. Oregon offers a variety of options that suit any person looking to compete in intramurals. So, if you’ve grown up playing volleyball your entire life, why not pickup a pigskin and play some flag football? If anything, it’ll be rewarding to try something new.

Pick a quality team to play with: Quality, not in the form of skill, or talent, but in the form of people. It will be essential to any team. If you’re not going to have fun with the people you are playing with, why play? This is the first, and only time, that you’ll be able to pick your own team. Enjoy it.

Dress in style: Don’t be the team that wears a white t-shirt, black shorts, tennis shoes and calls it a day. Take a page from the Oregon football team and dress to the nines with an added element of flash. Remember: Look good, feel good, play good.

Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoy