Students complain of rec center crowding

By: Brittany Hibbs

Posted: 4/24/08

Some NT students claim they've done more waiting than working out at the Pohl Recreation Center on campus this year.

This semester, the center's average daily attendance for one week was 2,070 students and faculty members, said Stuart Birdseye, assistant director of marketing and membership services.

Birdseye said there have been a total of 192,939 visits to the center by students and faculty this semester. It saw 186,890 visits around the same time last semester, making that a 3.2 percent increase.

Sue Delmark, director of recreational sports, said students have complained of finding too many people at the center.

"Some students have said they don't want to fight the crowds, so they go get a membership somewhere else," she said.

Wichita Falls senior Alisha Velez has had a membership at LA Fitness for seven months now, after trying to go to NT's recreation center, she said.

"I would try to go three times a week," Velez said. "But it was always packed and I always had to wait for machines."

The $78 recreation center fee is included in student tuition each semester, and Delmark said the staff at the center is taking measures to ensure students can use the facility they pay for.

"We encourage students to try different programs," she said.

For instance, students can try swimming in the center's indoor pool rather than use a cardio machine each time, she said. Students also have the option to buy a group exercise pass for the classes offered such as cardio boxing, indoor cycling and yoga.

"If they don't want to be in the weight room, we'll give them another place to work out," Delmark said.

Birdseye said the busiest times for the recreation center are generally between 3 and 11 p.m., and the slowest are between 6 a.m. and noon because students are still in class.

Delmark said advertisements have recently been placed in the Daily to remind NT students they have to option to come to the center at 6 a.m. in order to beat the later crowds.

Flower Mound junior Austin Higgins goes to the recreation center about five times a week, usually between 4-5 p.m. but said he would go to the facility at 6 a.m. if he had no other option.

"I tried to avoid the gym here from around 5 until 9," he said.

Higgins said he mainly uses the elliptical machines, free weights and cable weight machines and would like to try the yoga class offered but is turned off by the additional fee.

Delmark said there are no plans to add more equipment to the center, but there is always a schedule of replacement.

She said the recreation faculty is committed to having the most updated equipment on the market for students to use.

During this past winter break, the center added 10 Precor treadmills with personal viewing screens, 15 Precor Ellipticals with personal viewing screens, five recumbent bikes with personal viewing screens and four upright bikes.

Delmark said the faculty would continue to try to accommodate student needs.

"Give us any and all input," Delmark said. "We want to know what they like and what they don't like because this facility is for them."