Rec Day 2026 is loading… get your plans ready

Every year on February 22—honoring NIRSA’s founding in 1950—NIRSA brings together schools, companies, and associations across North America to celebrate campus recreation on Recreational Sports & Fitness Day, better known as Rec Day.

NIRSA and NIRSA associate member Club Colors are teaming up once again to offer campuses the opportunity to purchase customized Rec Day T-shirts and other swag like water bottles, cinch bags, sweatpants, and fans. Make sure to place your order before Monday, February 2, so your items arrive on your campus before February 22, 2026!

Take the Rec Day 2026 Pledge

Is your school going to celebrate NIRSA’s birthday by planning, promoting, and executing 2026 National Recreational Sports & Fitness Day festivities? On (or around) February 22 every year, campus recreation departments across North America remember the vision set in motion by Dr. William Wasson and his esteemed colleagues at the first NIRSA Conference which took place in 1950 at Dillard University. This conference saw the formation of the National Intramural Association (NIA), which today is known as NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation.

Complete and submit the NIRSA Recreational Sports & Fitness Day Pledge form so your school is recognized as an active Rec Day 2026 participant! After taking the pledge, share photos and videos of your campus’ Rec Day celebrations— tag our social media accounts and include the #RecDay hashtag and in your social media posts so NIRSA can help spread the word about how your school is celebrating.

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Join the Foundation to celebrate the 3rd annual Founders Day of Giving

As campuses across the continent celebrate Rec Day 2026, we’re asking that individual NIRSA members—student, professional, life, emeritus, retired, and associate—honor the founders of NIRSA (originally known as the NIA) by making either a one-time donation or by pledging a recurring contribution to the NIRSA Foundation. The Foundation is delighted to announce that Founders Day donations will be matched thanks to Centers LLC. More details about the match challenge will be announced soon.

Learn more

Dr. William Wasson founded the NIA on February 22, 1950 when he brought 20 intramural directors from 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities together to share his research on collegiate recreation. The founding members of the Association were committed to celebrating health, activity, competition, and inclusive participation. NIRSA members all over the world now celebrate this founding date as Rec Day. You can learn more about this special event, download official logos, and even see how members celebrated Rec Day in 2025 by visiting the Rec Day/Founders Day page of the NIRSA website; more about NIRSA’s founding can be found on the history page of the NIRSA website.

See why NIRSA members like to celebrate Rec Day

“Rec Day—or rec week as we make it—is a way to put on some awesome special events for our campus community and to celebrate that recreation is for everyone and comes in many forms.” – Laura Whiteley, University of the Pacific

“National Rec Day is important to UW-Platteville because it is a day to celebrate all the great things our bodies can do!” – Kelsey Stamm, University of Wisconsin Platteville

“Recreation is far more than exercising and intramurals, this day will be able to shine a light on the variety in recreation and how important recreation can be to students!” – Ryan A McNicholas, Youngstown State University Campus Recreation

“Rec Day is important to PVAMU Rec Sports because it Celebrates and Highlights the foundational ideas of Dr. Wasson for campus recreation. It allows us to showcase our programs of Health & Wellness of ALL aspects to our Students, Faculty, Staff and Community Members for our HBCU.” – Yolanda Thomas, Prairie View A&M University Recreation Sports

“Rec Day is important for Millersville University because we want to put our students and their health first. College can be stressful, so it is important to us to provide programs and resources to lessen that.” – Riley McKelvey, Millersville University

“Rec Day is important to us because we love NIRSA and we LOVE showcasing all the fun you can have in recreation. It is a great day to market our events to campus and for everyone to come together for a fun event.” – Megan Feasel, Georgia Southern University Armstrong Campus