“Change is inevitable, except from vending machines,” quoted an unknown author. True to the statement, as BYU-Idaho and its activities program continue to grow and progress, change is inevitable, although it may not seem attractive at first.

In its inaugural season this semester, inner tube water polo has been the subject of unrest with many water polo players as the inner tube version replaced the traditional game on the RecSports roster.

Beginning at the captains’ meeting on Oct. 19, many water polo players expressed their displeasure at the discontinuance of their sport. Soon a petition circulated to revive the old program.

“[Inner tube water polo] is not competitive, you can’t steal the ball and it’s not exercise,” said Leah Barrus, a senior from Redding, Calif., and signature number 50 on the petition.

Trent Tustian, the RecSports advisor, says he understands that students like the competitive play, but the level of difficulty excludes many students, and until a viable plan can be worked out with enough participants, the inner tubes will stay as the singular option for water polo play.

About two years ago, the water polo team had about 13-15 teams, but was down to just nine teams last winter semester, Tustian said.

“We had low numbers [in water polo] and we wanted to try to get more people out,” said Brandon Evanson, a senior from Malad, Idaho, and the assistant students director of RecSports.

In order to do this, “we did our homework and looked across the nation,” said Tustian. According to the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, very few schools throughout the country run water polo as an intramural sport, but many have inner tube water polo, including BYU.

Student leaders made the decision to adopt inner tubes, hoping to serve more students. There are now officially nine inner tube water polo teams, which is the same number of regular water polo teams last Winter semester.

And the RecSports leadership expects the program to keep growing because of its ability to involve more students.

“It’s about inclusion everyone can play,” said Tustian. “We think it will keep growing and growing wards can come out and play and it’s a great social environment.”

In order to make room for inner tube polo and battleship, traditional open water polo times have been changed from the normal Wednesday nights to Monday nights after home evening.