For those who are interested in a career in Campus Recreation, I thought that I would share some of my experiences as an undergraduate (student worker). I’ve worked for the Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas) Recreation Sports Center for about five years. Our facility is housed in the Student Affairs Division at the University. We have a student population of 12,000+ and a faculty/staff of approximately 1,178. My role with Rec Sports is in facilities as a front desk Supervisor and today’s topic revolves around a frequently asked question: “ Are you open to the public and how much does it cost to get in?”.
The answer to that question is no -we are not open to the public. The rationale is because of our large student population and limited facility size, we can not satisfy the needs of both the public as well as the students and faculty on our campus. “Our mission is to provide opportunities to engage in activities, programs and special events that promote healthy active lifestyles, leadership development, social interaction and educational purposes. These opportunities exist through programs, services, and facilities that reflect the diverse needs of the Tarleton State University Family.”
The Rec Sports Center is comprised of 70,000 square feet. The overall capacity is 1600 according to the University’s Risk Management Director. However, the Director of the Rec Center, Robert Nimmo, states that our capacity is around 800-1000.During the weekdays we hit our highest numbers at the Rec Center, with 1,500-1,900 patrons using the facility throughout the day. With the population of Stephenville is around 17,000-18,000 people, being open to the public would negatively impact the students because it would increase the capacity in the room they don’t have. This would create tension between the students and the public users because lack of space that the students and faculty did have in the first place would disappear and they would resort to finding another place to work out. This would be a forever recurring event until the Rec Center created more space to accommodate both the students and faculty and the public users. The best and probably only pro to opening the rec center to the public would be the influx of money from all the new memberships. This would cause the Rec Center’s budget to increase, allowing them to buy more equipment, allow student-workers/Graduate Assistants to attend conferences across the country and/or ultimately expanding the Rec Center IF they have to space to expand in the first place. “The name of our building is the Student Fitness Center, and I think that it shows focus and value on the students of Illinois State University,” said Bastian. “For us to have it open to community members would dilute our mission and our values of what we set forth to our students, somewhat.”
Opening the rec center to the public would ultimately dilute the Rec Sports’ mission of maintaining a student-focused Center. By this, I mean the satisfaction of the student/faculty base would drop rapidly due to the influx of new patrons coming in. The already small space would turn into no space at all and the “regulars” would stop coming. The hours that are usually slow and the people who enjoy their space would seek other places due to privacy. The peak hours would double or even triple and we would ultimately have to turn people away because we would reach peak capacity. The cleanliness and neatness of the rec would lose its value and the increase of its usage would triple, which in turn would cause customer satisfaction to decrease rapidly until people stopped coming altogether.
To keep the facility running effectively and efficiently would mean keeping the values of the mission statement true. Keep the Rec Center for what it was truly made for unless you are willing to spend millions of dollars to go through renovations and equipment to fit into the new space.
Rec Sports. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://www.tarleton.edu/recsports/about.html
The Pros and Cons of Opening your Facility to the Local Community. (2015, October 21). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://campusrecmag.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-opening-your-facility-to-the-local-community/
The Pros and Cons of Opening your Facility to the Local Community. (2015, October 21). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://campusrecmag.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-opening-your-facility-to-the-local-community/
