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If you don’t play a school sport but you love playing a sport for fun, or you just want another reason to have fun with your friends, intramural sports are a good go-to activity. The intramurals are not only for fun, but they can be a good competitive release in tournament play. However, it’s one thing to have a desire to win a Bethel College intramural tournament because a person and their team may be skilled in a particular sport, but it’s another thing to have a drive to win every single intramural tournament Bethel College has to offer in the same year. So hearing sophomore Victor Ortiz talking about winning all of the tournaments in casual conversation definitely catches one by surprise. “I plan on winning every intramural sport,” Ortiz officially declared. “I’m planning on (futsal) if I get a good team…every intramural division of sport that’s offered at Bethel.” The intramural sports tournaments here at Bethel College include flag football, sand volleyball, three-on-three basketball, five-on-five basketball, ultimate frisbee and futsal. “(So far I’ve) won frisbee, have won flag football, playing for the semi-finals…for sand volleyball and then after that basketball is gonna start,” Ortiz said. He was inspired to win all of the tournaments when he was on talented intramural teams last year, but came up short in the sand volleyball and one of the basketball tournaments. This year, he is determined to defy the odds and win them all. Has anyone in school history actually been able to pull off such a feat? Senior Collin Wiersema’s job is to help promote all the intramural sports, get people to sign up for them and he has to oversee all of the games. “I have not seen it done,” Wiersema, stated, “I’m sure someone could do it someday.” He also expressed the great challenge Ortiz has ahead of him. “That would be really difficult,” Wiersema said upon hearing about Ortiz’s ambition. “Unless you know a lot of good athletes that you can team up with, because there’s a lot of soccer players that play futsal so they almost always win. And a lot of JV basketball guys play three-on-three, so you’d have to team up with the teams that are good and test your luck.” Some of Victor Ortiz’s friends and teammates from his intramural teams have also raised a question. How is he going to win the futsal tournament? “The one (sport) I would have doubts with him in would be the futsal,” junior and Ortiz’s flag football teammate Nathan Moxness, stated. “I don’t know his soccer skills very well. I’ve seen him play football, seen him play volleyball and seen him play basketball. I know he’s great in all of those, but it also takes a team. It’d be nice to see how the people around him are going to contribute to his goal of winning all of the tournaments.” “He doesn’t have a lot experience in soccer,” sophomore and Ortiz’s volleyball teammate Jonathas Chagas said, “So unless he joins an already really good team, I think it’s gonna be hard for him.” “I think what he’s gonna struggle in the most is the futsal unless he gets put on a good team,” senior and Ortiz’s basketball teammate Austin Adams, stated. “I know Victor’s background in soccer is small, but I think there’s a chance.” Other than these underlying flaws in futsal, Ortiz presents tremendous advantages in his ability to compete and connections in other sports. Which skills does he possess that makes him such a threat? “I think basketball he’s got it locked up with three-on-three,” said Adam. “I’ll help him out with that. Five-on-five, I’ll also help him do that.” “He definitely brings a sort of spark to him,” Moxness said, “and you know when you’re on Victor’s team you have a chance to win. He’s very good at basically any sport I’ve played with him. I know he’s very athletic. And so being on his team it’s always nice to know you have him and you always have a decent chance to win even if the surrounding parts aren’t good.” “He’s a very good athlete,” Wiersema noted, “I don’t know why he doesn’t play any sports at Bethel…he can dunk easy.” “I think he actually has a good chance,” Chagas said the day of the semi-finals for the volleyball tournament. “Tonight is gonna be the determining factor because we are playing the other best team. Without trying to sound too cocky, if we do win this first game, we have high chances of going through and winning it all. We are the only undefeated teams and we’ve beaten every other team they haven’t.” During the writing of this article, Ortiz’s volleyball team was not able to win against the team they faced in the semi-finals, ending his run for winning tournament championship. Many of his friends were shocked, since Ortiz and a couple of his teammates played volleyball in high school. Granted, the other team was loaded with talent, including names such as Gabe Dahl, Seth Kissinger, Erin Carlos, Cassie Sears and Kathryn Novy. These latter three actually play for the Lady Pilots volleyball team, so Ortiz was facing some professional competition. There are some people who thought Victor Ortiz had no shot at winning every tournament. One of those people includes Spencer Jones, a junior and a former teammate of Ortiz in intramural basketball. After playing on his team last year, Jones decided to part ways with Ortiz’s team and form his own team for next year’s basketball tournament. “I laughed,” Jones said of his response to Ortiz’s claim, “I saw him before and he was really athletic and could jump really high. He’d have to get other good players to pick up for his lack of talent in a sport.” Does any aspect of Ortiz’s volleyball tournament loss surprise him? “Not really,” he said, “because the team who won had three volleyball players so I kind of expected them to win.” Victor Ortiz fell short in his quest to win every tournament, as do many Bethel students each year. A little over-confidence, and possibly his laid-back attitude, may have gotten the best of him, which he’ll probably kick himself for losing all this year. However, Ortiz does represent the will of the human spirit to compete and remain in fellowship with his friends. He still has a chance to win the basketball tournaments coming up. His ultimate goal will have to wait a little longer though. Until next year.
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