Recreational Environment

Students can enjoy the small-town friendliness of Provo or drive 45 miles to the north for the cosmopolitan diversity that Salt Lake City offers. Whereas Salt Lake City is home to Ballet West, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the Utah Symphony, the Provo area prides itself on its own Utah Valley Symphony and several talented community choirs and theatre groups.

A Great Outdoors

The Wasatch Mountains overlook BYU on the east, and to the west lies Utah Lake. Within an hour's drive are several canyons and ski resorts; six national parks are only a half day away. Outdoor gear can be rented on campus for everything from skiing to windsurfing.

Athletic Facilities

BYU's athletic facilities are among the best in the nation. Complementing the major sports complexes—the Marriott Center, football stadium, baseball diamond, softball diamond, indoor tennis pavilion, and track and field stadium—are the Richards Building and the Smith Fieldhouse. The Richards Building has facilities for racquetball, volleyball, basketball, aerobics, dance, and swimming; the Smith Fieldhouse houses ball courts, weight rooms, an indoor track, and a west annex big enough for spring batting practice.

Intramural Activities

The campus intramural program, consisting of more than thirty events involving thousands of participants in both men's and women's activities, is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the United States. Students may participate in team activities and individual events. The intramural program offers divisions for different skill levels in each activity and provides awards for the winners in each division. Numerous employment opportunities are available as game supervisors and officials.

Intercollegiate Competition

BYU begins its third year in the Mountain West Conference, which also includes the Air Force Academy, Colorado State University, the University of Nevada–Las Vegas, the University of New Mexico, San Diego State University, the University of Utah, and the University of Wyoming.

The men's intercollegiate program at BYU consists of ten sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor track, outdoor track and field, and volleyball.

Women at BYU compete in eleven intercollegiate sports: basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor track, outdoor track and field, and volleyball.

Nationally ranked in many sports, BYU has won national championships in football, golf, and track and multiple championships in cross country and volleyball. BYU's overall athletic program was ranked seventeenth nationally in 2001 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

Extramural Competition

The extramural sports program at BYU provides opportunities for students to participate on an intercollegiate level throughout the United States and Canada in team sports not designated NCAA.

One of the best organized and most respected programs in the country, BYU's extramural sports program offers four sports for men (soccer, racquetball, lacrosse, and rugby) and one sport for women (racquetball). Many of the teams have been nationally ranked during the last several years.