Spring Break
Student Rec. Facility insufficient for campus size
Ben Tarr
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Commentary
It is a typical winter morning at UConn - cold, windy, and otherwise raw. I roll out of bed for my 8 a.m. class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which finishes at 9:15, and I immediately hit the gym for a 30-minute workout on the elliptical. By 9:30, I am ready to use the ellipticals, but there is one problem: All of the machines are occupied. One would think that the recreational center at an institution as large as UConn with a student population of roughly 20,000 would have more available machinery to use. One would also rationally believe that they could avoid waiting for a machine if they went to workout relatively early in the morning on a weekday; because, after all, the gym is typically the most crowded after dinner time.
Yet, I was wrong. I had to wait for 20 minutes to claim a free elliptical machine. There are only roughly 15 elliptical machines in the recreation center, and usually at least one is broken or out of order at any given time. I purposely avoid visiting the gym during the late afternoon and evening hours because I fear the amount of time that I will have to spend waiting for a machine to open and for the people in line in front of me to claim machines.
"There needs to be more machines," said Jamie Melnick, a 6th-semester human development and family studies major. "I use the treadmills and the ellipticals usually at night, and sometimes I have to wait more than a half hour until a machine becomes available. It's ridiculous."
But that is just the beginning of the problem. While waiting for a machine to become vacant, one cannot help but notice how unreasonably stuffy and warm it is in the rooms which house the aerobic machines. It is understandable that the exercise areas would be warmer than normal because of the high number of people in the room at one time and the fact that they are likely sweating and generating excess heat in the room.
But something must be done to regulate the temperature to an acceptable degree. In each aerobic exercise room, there are two fans, neither of which are centrally positioned in the gym. One fan is in the extreme upper left-hand corner of the room; while the other is in the extreme upper right-hand corner of the room. That is fine if one is working out in close proximity to the fans. However, if they are not, then there are no mechanisms to circulate the air. It's pretty sad when the only form of air circulation for some parts of the exercise rooms comes from the small fans on some of the ellipticals.
The purpose of this piece of commentary is not to embarrass the administration or those who oversee the proper maintenance and functioning of the gym. Rather, it is to serve as a call for action. Most people are aware of the fact that the availability of money is not what it was a short time ago; however, UConn can free up some money to improve a facility which a large percentage of students use by eliminating wasteful spending on useless flat-screen televisions in the Student Union and the CUE building.
Yet, I was wrong. I had to wait for 20 minutes to claim a free elliptical machine. There are only roughly 15 elliptical machines in the recreation center, and usually at least one is broken or out of order at any given time. I purposely avoid visiting the gym during the late afternoon and evening hours because I fear the amount of time that I will have to spend waiting for a machine to open and for the people in line in front of me to claim machines.
"There needs to be more machines," said Jamie Melnick, a 6th-semester human development and family studies major. "I use the treadmills and the ellipticals usually at night, and sometimes I have to wait more than a half hour until a machine becomes available. It's ridiculous."
But that is just the beginning of the problem. While waiting for a machine to become vacant, one cannot help but notice how unreasonably stuffy and warm it is in the rooms which house the aerobic machines. It is understandable that the exercise areas would be warmer than normal because of the high number of people in the room at one time and the fact that they are likely sweating and generating excess heat in the room.
But something must be done to regulate the temperature to an acceptable degree. In each aerobic exercise room, there are two fans, neither of which are centrally positioned in the gym. One fan is in the extreme upper left-hand corner of the room; while the other is in the extreme upper right-hand corner of the room. That is fine if one is working out in close proximity to the fans. However, if they are not, then there are no mechanisms to circulate the air. It's pretty sad when the only form of air circulation for some parts of the exercise rooms comes from the small fans on some of the ellipticals.
The purpose of this piece of commentary is not to embarrass the administration or those who oversee the proper maintenance and functioning of the gym. Rather, it is to serve as a call for action. Most people are aware of the fact that the availability of money is not what it was a short time ago; however, UConn can free up some money to improve a facility which a large percentage of students use by eliminating wasteful spending on useless flat-screen televisions in the Student Union and the CUE building.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
orlando
posted 2/10/09 @ 8:14 AM EST
This needs a little bit more meat to it. Everyone already knows the gym is packed and warm. You should have wrote a piece about what you think the solution is (building a new gym? charging fees? how about weird hours during the day that are actually not that packed?) etc. (Continued…)
E
posted 2/10/09 @ 10:17 AM EST
One elliptical PER student is the only way to fix it. If there are 20, 000 elliptical machines, there should always be at least one open. Or you could just wait for a minute until one opens up. (Continued…)
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