Diversity Roundtable hosts UR World Cup

While some University of Richmond students were still snuggled up in bed last Saturday recuperating from attending the first fraternity lodges of the semester, others gathered at noon on the Intramural Fields. Some players made frantic calls to their friends to make sure they had enough team members to play. With upbeat music blaring from the loudspeakers, students and faculty members participated in the UR World Cup, a soccer tournament sponsored by the university's Diversity Roundtable.

The teams were composed of eight players who played eight-minute halves. Two of the IM fields were reserved for the event. Teams played in two leagues: "Just for Fun" and "Competitive."

The members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. provided a dessert table. Hamburgers, grapes, drinks and other refreshments were available to players and those watching from the sidelines. Most of the food was provided by members of the Black Alliance for Sexual Minority Equality (BASE), a member group of the Diversity Roundtable.

The Internationals won the Competitive division, pocketing 80 dollars in prize money and the Marsh Hall team won the Just for Fun division, taking home 40 dollars.

The Diversity Roundtable invited representatives from student groups, most of whom historically had been interested in ideas of diversity and who represent cultural groups or underrepresented groups on campus, said Lisa Miles, assistant director of Common Ground.

Miles said that a group of students had come up with the idea of hosting a World Cup tournament last spring, but there had not been a free weekend to host the event.

"So they wanted to create some things early in the year that got students interacting in a different way and thought that soccer is just one of those things that so many American students play growing up, but so many international students, this is their passion," Miles said. "So it might be a really neat way to bring lots of people together, especially since it's a World Cup year."

Junior resident assistant Colin Cardwell brought his Lakeview Hall residents to play at the event.

"I thought it would just be a good, easy thing that was going on and it would be a lot of fun for the group to get together and play some soccer," he said. "I'm a huge fan of soccer myself."

Sophomore Jason Mathew, who serves on the leadership team for the Diversity Roundtable said that the idea behind this "campus-unifying event" was for people to talk to each other and meet new people.

"I guess it will hopefully foster new relationships, new friendships," Mathew said.

Contact staff writer Michelle Guerrere at michelle.guerrere@richmond.edu