Division I athletes partake in intramural soccer

You step onto the rubber field surrounded by walls topped by glass in the confines of Parker Hall gym. You're ready to play your intramural soccer game when you look up and see a team made of former Division I athletes on the other side of the field.

The team's name is Fake Madrid, and they compete in the men's recreational league of intramural soccer. The team's roster includes former Southeast Missouri State University baseball players Ryan Prickett and Ryan Quirk, both of whom were pitchers, as well as former first baseman Kody Campbell.

All three players have different reasons for staying at Southeast after finishing playing baseball.

Campbell was looking to further his education and stay close to home.

"I am in my second semester of [graduate] school here at Southeast," Campbell said. "I chose to stay in the area because I was from here and all my friends and family are here. I was offered a graduate assistant position with sports management, so I was able to continue my education as well as build on the relationships I had here."

Prickett is from Oklahoma and has graduated but stayed in the area to spend some time with friends before everyone leaves Cape Girardeau.

Quirk is from California and has chosen to stay for a different reason.

"After finishing baseball I chose to stay in Cape Girardeau mainly to finish my education," Quirk said. "After already transferring from a junior college in California I wanted to finish my education at Southeast before heading back home."

Everybody has their reasons for playing intramural sports, and although these boys are former athletes here at Southeast they are playing intramurals for similar reasons that others chose to play, to hang out with their friends and have fun.

"Playing intramurals was a way for me to hang out with my friends, stay active and competitive as well as have some fun," Campbell said.

Some of the others members on the team have slightly different motives for playing intramurals, to stay active and keep in shape. Since the members are no longer on a sports team they are finding new ways to workout.

"Intramurals is a good way for me to stay active and competitive with my friends as well as another way to keep in shape," Quirk said.

According to Quirk what makes their team different is that they are made up of mostly former athletes from Southeast, but they are just an average group of guys playing indoor soccer. The members of the team looked into playing intramurals together for many reasons, the ultimately chose indoor soccer because it was one that stood out to them and thought it would be fun and something none of them have done before.

"What makes us unique is that pretty much nobody on our team has every played soccer, but we thought it looked fun," Campbell said. "We are hoping to win some more games and maybe even the tournament at the end of the season."

Other members of Fake Madrid include Cape Girardeau locals Kirk Boeller, also a former baseball player for Southeast and John Unterreiner.