Just as the doors to the intramural offices open, the sound of chatter is greeted by the smile of Ava Serna ’27 as she clocks in for her shift as an intramural office supervisor. Since her freshman year, Serna’s college experience has revolved around the Intramural Sports offices. If she isn’t answering questions at the front desk, she’s usually somewhere near a volleyball court. 

Coming from a military background, Serna moved frequently — starting in Japan before ultimately finding her place in College Station. Despite moving thousands of miles across the world, one thing has remained constant in Serna’s life: volleyball.

“I played volleyball in high school,” Serna said. “Being involved with that in any way sounded exciting to me and it turned into a really amazing opportunity to grow my confidence and learn a new skill — which is reffing games. I get to watch volleyball and I love volleyball. The people I work with also love volleyball.”

Unlike most office jobs, where interaction is limited to a 6-by-6 cubicle, office jobs with Intramural Sports are not restricted to the office.

“As an office supervisor, I spend a lot of time out at the courts and at the games, face to face with our players,” Serna said. “I also get to talk to them in the office when they want to call or email and have a concern. This allows me to be more personable with our players.”

Much like the courts, the intramural office is not defined by quiet, monotone clacking of keys. Jokes fly across the room and the environment is constantly buzzing with conversation. Needless to say, Serna’s first day was not what she expected. 

“I remember my first day in the office,” Serna said. “I was kind of expecting to be figuring things out on my own, and was really shocked to see that Nick [Heiar] and Kaulin [Andric] have an open door policy. I can be sitting at my desk and be like, ‘Hey Kaulin, I don’t know what I’m doing right now. Can you come over here and help me?’. He might tease me for needing so much help, but in reality, he’s really excited to answer my questions.”

Yet being an intramural office supervisor is no easy feat. With more than 150 games scheduled per night, Serna is responsible for organizing schedules and updating sheets, inputting scores ranging from defaults to forfeits, all while officiating her own games and managing the officials under her.

But Serna, like most, grew into her role as an office supervisor. 

“I have suffered from imposter syndrome in the past of not feeling very confident in my abilities,” Serna said. “I had my first men’s competitive game. I got up there, and I was like, ‘You know what? I know what I’m doing. I know the rules. I’m just going to ref this game and stay confident.’ I stood up straight, and I refereed that game.”

Little did she know, Andric noticed her skills from the sidelines. From then on, the ladder stretched before her, each rung smaller than the last as she climbed higher into leadership.

“We’ve got about 225 officials, and we have about 75 leadership staff or supervisors at any given time,” Kaulin Andric, assistant director of intramural sports said. “So, we have to be careful on who we’re promoting to that position. From the minute that Ava was here, she showed some of those characters of being a good supervisor — having great customer service, being organized, being diligent and having a really good work ethic.”

Now, she offers those under her the same support Andric gave her. 

“When [our officials] do great in the game, I make sure I say something,” Serna said. “Because that’s what Kaulin did for me, and it had a huge impact on how I choose to treat my leadership abilities.” 

That approach extends beyond words. Serna stays through entire games, to highlight and acknowledge the good moments, not only the bad. 

“We have a lot of officials here with unique personality types,” Serna said. “I want to make sure the evaluations and feedback I’m giving them resonates with them. Even if they are struggling and making a lot of mistakes, I want to find even the smallest thing I can compliment them on; so that their next game, they stand up a little bit straighter and ref a little bit better.”

With a few semesters left on campus, Serna’s positive outlook and uplifting attitude will carry into her future outside of Rec Sports. 

“There’s a lot of things that can go wrong in an instant in this office,” Andric said. “It can feel like some things are crumbling down. But Ava, every time we peek out and see her, she’s always got a smile on her face and always doing things the right way.”

Written by: Angeline Nappoly