As winter arrives, students stuff Kennedy Sports and Recreation

Within the realm of higher education, a rift exists between academia and athletics. The two groups battle over anything from school pride to the allocation of school funds. Juniata College?s athletic achievement is consistently overshadowed by the school?s academic success, and deservedly so. Our revolutionary Program of Emphasis curriculum has 96 percent of our students graduate in four years.

With that being said, our sports teams are nothing to scoff at. Juniata has experienced 120 All-Americans, 47 conference championships and eight Division III volleyball national championships. Many of these accolades were received after the completion of Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center in 1983, which is in need. of renovations.

Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center (Kennedy) holds within its walls the Juniata College athletic department. The building houses the Sam and Martha Brumbaugh Fitness Center, the Binder Natatorium, the Memorial and intramural gymnasiums and multiple locker rooms. Also, coaches from all sports, discounting football, have office space throughout the structure. While Kennedy serves as a second home to most athletes and coaches and is therefore cherished, it is an outdated, undersized excuse for a training facility.

Before you assume that this recreation center should be burned to the ground, the building indeed has its advantages. Within Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center, the Memorial Gymnasium is aesthetically pleasing and provides a great atmosphere as it plays host to our volleyball and basketball teams. Inside the gym, around the playing court, resides a mezzanine, which allows for spectators to get different views of the action throughout the competitions. The remaining structure, which is conveniently located in the middle of campus, inadequately serves athletes and the public.

The main problem with Kennedy is its insufficient amount of space. Sam and Martha Brumbaugh Fitness Center offers various workout machines to improve both strength and cardiovascular endurance. As the winter months approach and athletic teams are forced to train indoor, the limited room proves as stressful as the thought of that 10-page paper you, as a student, have come to sweat away. So, what good is this equipment when you might not get the chance to operate it? Both members of sports teams and the Juniata community often are forced to squeeze into the packed weight room or revamp their schedules to work out at less busy times. With busy work schedules, many students might be driven to forget about their health and skip their workouts.

As another result of Kennedy?s lack of space, teams in 2012 were forced to shuffle locker rooms. To give credit, this came as a result of a plan to renovate old locker rooms or construct new ones. While athletes wait for the conclusion of this project, multiple teams have been forced to share existing
locker rooms.

During this fall season, both the men?s soccer and cross-country teams had to use unfamiliar locations within Kennedy. The soccer team is using the undersized baseball locker room, while sharing aspects of both the football and basketball rooms, which are adjacent. The 2012 men?s cross-country team is currently occupying the men?s pool locker room, which is open to the public. With an unknown number of bodies inhabiting these less than ideal conditions, infections and disease have been thought to originate here.

?I?m friends with the cross country guys, and two of the runners got MRSA this season,? said junior Andy Blunk. ?Now this doesn?t mean that their locker room was definitely the reason, but I don?t think any other sports team had two severe cases of infection like that.?

The intramural gymnasium, or IM gym, might be the second most-utilized area in Kennedy. During the winter, both men?s and women?s basketball can hold practice in the IM gym, as well as both volleyball teams. In addition to these four teams, most off-season squads attempt to train in this gym. These out-of-season teams often have to fight just to get an hour or two of free gym time, if it is actually available, and forces them to practice late at night. Here lies another problem, as intramural basketball and soccer leagues schedule hours of gym time every night during this time.

The solution is simple; Juniata needs a larger athletic facility. Yes, this might seem like a rather grand request, but this is the trend for successful collegiate athletic programs. Compare Juniata?s facilities to Drew University?s. Drew is a member of the same conference as Juniata, the Landmark Conference, and has advanced their athletic program through their Simon Forum.

Drew?s 1,725 undergraduate students are comparable to Juniata?s 1,619 undergraduates. In comparison to Kennedy, Drew?s Simon Forum is a recreation center that was completed in 1994. The center includes an indoor 200-meter track, an eight-lane NCAA pool, a basketball gymnasium, two exercise rooms, squash and racquetball courts, and a forum that seats 4,000 for special events. The forum can also be converted into four full-size courts for basketball, indoor tennis or volleyball.

Understanding that the nature of these advancements require funding, it might take awhile for Juniata to be on the same playing field as conference rivals and other Division III opponents. In the mean time, Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center will continue to accommodate athletes and the public as best as possible. As members of the Juniata, we are able to adapt to and make the best of less than desirable conditions. Kennedy does not have ideal circumstances, but when the student body gathers to chant and cheer on their Eagle teams in the Memorial Gymnasium, there is no better place to watch an event.

Source: http://juniatian.com/2012/11/02/as-winter-arrives-students-stuff-kennedy-sports-and-recreation-center/

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