Creative Virtual Program Highlights: Trivia and Trick Shots

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Universities are getting creative with virtual offerings. And we want to highlight them! Check out these “Virtual Program Highlights” from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Sacramento State University:

Quarantine Quiz Show

Starting Wednesday, April 1 at 8 p.m. EST, Scott Flickinger, the director of Intramural Sports and Noyes Recreation Center at Cornell University, will host the first Quarantine Quiz Show.

Drew Devore, the assistant director of Competitive Sports at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, said the national trivia night started from a talk on how to engage students during this pandemic. “I realized there was the potential for a much larger event. Virtual programming is unique in allowing us to reach a more expansive audience,” said Devore. “Ultimately, the goal with the trivia show is to provide students, faculty, and staff a fun and engaging distraction during these uncertain times. This event preparation has highlighted the willingness of so many recreation programs across the country to come together to help improve the health and well-being of the university population we serve on a daily basis.”

Details on the event:

• Who can participate: Any student, faculty or staff member from schools across the country.
• When: Every Wednesday in April.
• Where: Streaming live on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities’ Twitch Channel, Recwithoutborders.
• How to join: Create your own Twitch account and follow the channel to participate.
• Prizes: Swag to the top five finishers, and random drawings throughout the event.

Intramural Sports Trick Shot Contest

Sacramento State University launched an Intramural Sports Trick Shot contest. The campus community can upload videos of trick shots for a chance to win a championship T-shirt and ring, and have their photo on the Champ Wall at the university.

Andrew Reddish, the assistant director of Intramural Sports and Staff Development at Sacramento State, said he grew up watching trick shot videos with friends, which sparked the idea for this contest. “We wanted to connect with our campus community at Sacramento State and provide an opportunity to be creative and still compete in an intramural format, while respecting social distancing and going at their own pace,” he shared. “By reaching out to other universities, we have the opportunity to take the top trick shot videos from Sacramento State and put them up against the top videos from other schools and make it more of a national or international competition, which only adds to the intrigue.”

There are two categories for the competition:

1. Basketball Trick Shot Category: Must be done on a regulation basketball hoop of 10 feet, either indoor or outdoor.
2. Miscellaneous Trick Shot Category: Use your imagination here — indoor golf putting/chipping, soccer shots, indoor over-the-door basketball hoop, ping-pong balls, socks in the laundry basket, etc.

The contest rules:

1. All current Sacramento State WELL members are eligible for this competition.
2. Be safe! Practice social distancing, protect yourself and others.
3. In each video, someone needs to visibly give a “two thumbs up” to the camera — either to start or finish each video — or verbally say “two thumbs up” to indicate this video is specifically for this competition. Without the “two thumbs up” component, the video will not qualify.
4. Each contest participant can upload a maximum of two videos in total. This can be two videos for one category, or one video for each category.

Has your university launched a creative virtual program at this time? Email heather@peakemedia.com so we can share it with the campus rec community.