Zach Cohen '09 barks directions to wrongly positioned teammates on the soccer field and swears at himself when he makes mistakes. He approaches every play like his intramural team's playoff hopes are on the line.In this game, however, his team is up by five goals and is assured a spot in the playoffs, just like every other squad in the league. But while the final score really isn't that important, that doesn't stop him from playing with intense emotion.

"Competition is what gets me up to play," Cohen said. "Soccer is my life and I stick to my own personal standard no matter where I play.

Like a handful of other students, Cohen is a former varsity athlete who has found a home in Brandeis' intramural sports program. Several other former varsity soccer players, including Josh Hochman '09, Kayne Ryan '09, Quincy Auger '10 and Julie Vavoules '10, won an intramural championship this fall, and there were others who competed on different teams. In basketball, former men's varsity players Rocco Toppi '08 and Tate Sherman '08 carried Duvey's Dozen to the men's division championship.

Though most of these players have mixed feelings about playing intramurals instead of varsity sports, they all say it's a viable alternative, even if athletics has become less of an emphasis in their lives.

"As a competitive athlete, my athletic life is a little dead," Sherman says. "I do miss the competition at times, but you can play basketball wherever you go. You miss the competition, but not all the strings attached."

For those like Cohen, whose soccer résumé reads more like that of a varsity standout, intramurals are a mixed bag. Prior to attending Brandeis, Cohen was selected to Florida's All-State team as a senior in high school.

After sitting out the first half of his rookie season at Brandeis with a hand injury, he returned to start nearly every game for the Judges as a defender, but was still cut from the team before his sophomore year.

To satisfy his competitive urge, Cohen joined an intramural team with his friends, including Hochman, and the squad has won the past two IM soccer championships. Despite that success, he still misses the varsity-level competition and commitment.

"[Intramurals] weren't the level of competition I was used to, but it gave me a good outlet after the varsity team," Cohen says.

Like Cohen, Hochman started a handful of varsity soccer games as a first-year, but before his sophomore year, he decided to quit the team in order to pursue other interests, citing the Judges' rigorous schedule.

He joined Cohen's intramural team, and while he says it's a satisfying means of playing soccer, he admits to being bored against overmatched opponents and says he misses the high level of competition he faced on a daily basis during his varsity days.

Still, Hochman admits playing intramurals has its advantages. Whereas every mistake could potentially decrease his playing time on the varsity team, in intramural games, Hochman says he could make mistakes and try new moves while still having fun.

He also admits that games against the best intramural teams are comparable to a varsity environment.

"The games against the good teams were more fun than playing in the varsity games," he says.

Others agreed that the laid-back atmosphere of intramurals is beneficial. Brooke Rosenbauer '09, who quit the varsity team after her sophomore year to become the head of the Brandeis chapter of Grassroots AIDS, a soccer program to benefit the fight against AIDS in Africa, said that intramurals made her love soccer again.

"What I like most about intramurals is that I can have fun and still have some good competition," Rosenbauer says. "It definitely reignited my passion for the game."

Though Cohen, Hochman, Rosenbauer and Frank all have different views about playing intramurals, they remain committed to their new teams, each of which has won an intramural title during the past two years. For others, such as Sherman, intramurals are simply a fun activity, and they don't take it so seriously.

"[Being a basketball player] is a very small part of my identity, if it's even a part of my identity anymore," Sherman said. "I don't feel like an athlete. The only people who miss the athletics are people who haven't had the luck to find something to fill that passion to replace it."

Editor's note: The writer works for the intramural sports program.

Lisa Frank '09 is an illustrator for the Justice.