<p>what is it?</p>
<p>Intramural sports are non-competitive and you don't make any commitment whatsoever (just show up whenever you like). Club sports might be competitive and you make some sort of a commitment to it by joining the club.</p>
<p>I would describe the difference in a different way. There are (at least) 4 ways to play sports at college.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Pick-up ... find a bunch of friends and go play the game</p></li>
<li><p>Intramural ... an organized structured program for the kids at the college to play against each other ... teams are often formed by frats, dorms, majors, or just groups of friends. The level of competition may very greatly ... for example, when I was in school (at a fairly big school) the basketball intramurals had various levels from joke-around coed to the top level which was vitually all HS varisty types taking it very seriously.</p></li>
<li><p>Club sports ... teams from a school but not sponsored by the school playing against teams from other schools. These teams tend to have regular practices, a lot hire coaches, and they often play in formal leagues. Since the schools do not sponsot them the players often need to pay pretty good bucks for court time, coaches, and travel. Some club teams are very high level ... especially in situations where schools do not have a school sponsored varisty team ... lots of DI school's club hockey and lacrosse teams are excellent for example. Club level is the highest level for some other sports like ultimate frisblee or rugby which are not a NCAA sponsored sports. Lots of club sports have numerous divisions so the level of competitiveness can vary greatly.</p></li>
<li><p>Varsity sports ... school sponsored teams playing against other schools</p></li>
</ul>