By
Chris Lindsey
“Pit pat pit pat,”
feet beat and squeak against the ground.
“Beep, beep,” the man at the front desk swipes the cards. At noon most students are sitting in
class—the Student Recreation Center has already been up and running since 6 a.m.
After
students check in at the front desk they are allowed to access all programs and
equipment in the Rec center. This
includes countless programs, some free and some paid—indoor cycling, personal
training, massage therapy and many more.
Just after passing
the front desk at 12:15 p.m. on a Thursday, one can hear blaring music from a
large room. In this room people
are participating in Zumba, a type of fitness program inspired by dance. The room is crowded, and everyone
appears to be dancing their hearts out.
A
man in a black shirt snarled as he lifted a 45-pound plate. Beads of sweat trickled down his
face. His facial expression showed
the anguish of lifting the weight.
Jeremy Burnett is a student at Front Range who enjoys using the Rec
Center. “I enjoy coming to the Rec
because of the weight room,” Burnett said, “I usually come here around three
times a week.”
The crash, thump
and grunts of the fitness center echo all the way to the front desk. It is a large portion of the Rec Center
for working out and includes two stories.
The bottom level mostly has machines for cardio such as ellipticals and treadmills.
The second floor also has a few cardio machines but features weights and
machines for muscle building such as machines for the back, biceps and chest. The machines are divided into sections
based on their purposes. Machines
for legs are in one section, then cardio along a windowed wall, and then
machines for upper body on the other end.
A wall and narrow opening separate the bench presses and free weights
from the rest of the fitness center.
In the middle of these sections is a room for core workouts.
After
the fitness center, the basketball courts are most used. Even at midday people fill the them,
some alone, some playing one on one and some even playing on full courts; there
shoes skid and squeak on the shiny floor.
There are a total of four full courts and eight baskets. Just above the courts is an eighth of a
mile track with a few people running and a few doing lunges.
Just
past the front desk and first stairwell are locker rooms, which lead to a pool. Around 1:30 p.m. the pool is almost empty. Katherine, a lifeguard at the pool,
said the busiest time is usually in the evening around 5 p.m. The pool has a rock wall with a
waterfall on the top.
The
Rec Center usually has about 3,500 to 4,000 visitors per day. It was originally built in 1989 and expanded in 1999 due to
over-crowded conditions. As CSU grew, so did the crowds at the Rec
Center; by 2005 the building was again experiencing over-crowded conditions
during peak hours. The expansion added 75,000 gross square feet in an
effort to get ahead of the pace of growing enrollment and to provide space for
any student that wanted to use the facility even during peak hours.
According to Assistant Director
of Facilities Cody Frye, “Students
pay approximately $135 a semester in student fees to Campus Recreation for the
Rec Center and department program offerings.”
Not
only is the Rec Center a popular place among students but it is also won LEED
gold status. Schools achieve this
status by using sustainable materials and methods to carry out a construction
project, such as the carpet used; it is 100 percent recycled carpet. After all of the renovations the cost
to operate the Rec Center is lower than the original cost.
As
the population of the student body is expected to grow in the next couple
decades remodeling will most likely be done to the Rec Center. The plans in the pool are to change out
the glass and update some of the architecture in addition to a lifeguard office
on the east end of the pool. There
are no definite proposals for the fitness center, but sometime in the future the
school plans on expanding parts of it.
Sources-
Assistant Director of Facilities Cody Frye
Jeremy Burnett, avid visitor
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