Nicole Montero/ Staff Writer
After working on the business side of intramural and recreational sports for almost two decades, REC*IT President David Oestreicher has come up with a free app that completely modernizes the intramural sports world and brings it to every college kid’s smart phone.
REC*IT, launched on Aug. 26 of this year by MOKO Social Media, an app that allows college students and administrators to manage all of their intramural and campus recreation activities right from their cell phones.
“REC*IT’s mission is really to bring this new age of connectivity to intramural and rec sports,” Oestreicher said. “Intramural sports and fitness are the largest active community in a college campus and they’re actually vastly underserved from the technology perspective.”
Through the app, students can access their sport schedules, results, news, announcements and more. The app also allows students to discover new activities, track personal statistics and send in-app messages to teammates.
The app has been launched in over 850 colleges across the U.S. – including the FIU.
“18 to 25 year olds are always on-the-go,” said Oestreicher. “So, there’s a need to reach people through these devices. Usually, traditional programs for intramural sports – like the one at FIU – put up bulletin postings that never get viewed or send out e-mails that never get opened, so this tool was a natural fit.”
The app is not only for students to stay connected, but also for administration and staff in charge of the intramural and rec sports. Kyle Leduc, Intramural Sports Coordinator from the University of Texas, is one administrator who is excited to roll out this app on his campus.
“Students at university level almost depend on instant access to information and almost all of them are carrying around at least one mobile device at all times,” Leduc said. “REC*IT is a resource that is providing real-time information to students and we were never able to access this in the past.”
Oestreicher brought the free app to the intramural community in the hopes of making a “game changing difference” in the way that communication was handled. The app now provides real-time announcements – including class cancellation notifications and meeting dates and times.
“Now you don’t have to scroll through a bunch of junk to get what you need,” Oestreicher said. “You can have your desired sport or activity right in front of you in real time… No one at FIU really brings this to students, so we stood up and made this commitment to this campus and over 800 other ones.”
Initially, the app was launched as a back-to-school program. But Oestreicher and other rec directors are surprised and pleased at the positive feedback the app has received.
Sheena R. Harvey, member service coordinator at the Campus Rec & Wellness Center in the University of Nevada, loves the app and recommends it to both students and administrators.
“Everyone seems to be enjoying the usability of the app,” she said. “With the stress-free access and use, individuals can stay connected and gain easy access to what’s important to them – their recreation activities.”
FIU student Kristen Magnus, junior psychology major, agrees with Harvey and believes that the app is probably one of the best things at the university.
“It’s so great that we finally have this,” she said. “I don’t have to go to my Zumba, spinning or pilates classes without knowing that they won’t get cancelled. It sucks when I drive all the way to campus and there’s no class… I’m definitely going to be using this all semester.”
The app, available in the App Store for iPhones or Google Play for Android devices, is easy to use. Users log in as a guest, or with their IMLeagues account, and type in their institution’s name. Once they do that, the app finds all activities and sports available within that school.
Even though the app has just been launched, Oestreicher hopes to launch a REC*IT 2.0 – this time with a lot more information for students and administrators.
Jason Incorvati, Associate Director of Campus Recreation at the University of Massachusetts, is one administrator that thinks REC*IT has saved time and made information readily available to students and staff.
“It’s the best thing since sliced bread,” he said. “I think the challenge for any college administration is finding ways to communicate that will reach their audience. It’s changing all the time. REC*IT is the next step in the evolution and I’m sure there will be more.”
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