Commentary:
Nelson who? Cons balance pros at USU fieldhouse
By Brooke McNaughton
Ingredients:
- One blue Mondo track
- About 50 ellipticals, treadmills, and weight machines
- One enormous and seemingly useless netted metal
contraption
- A whole lot of dust
Instructions:
Arrange so that the first three ingredients have their
own designated area then liberally coat onto every surface,
into every crevice, and behind every corner the dust.
Oh yes, and be sure to invite as many people as you
possibly can and squeeze them right in there with the
dust. Enjoy!
The Nelson Fieldhouse, in theory at least, serves Utah
State University rather well. With an ideal location
on the threshold of campus and promises to accommodate
all looking to enrich their lives in sweaty splendor,
the fieldhouse plays host to many of the university's
students on a daily basis. The problems with it, however,
are about as abundant as the benefits gained by visiting
the harbinger of health.
Problem number one: lack of accommodation. As well
as serving the student population, the fieldhouse is
the practice arena for both the track and softball teams
in the winter, as well as various club sports throughout
the year.
The obvious contention is the fight for the use of
the practice area- the main floor used for running and
playing basketball, tennis, soccer, and other recreational
sports. The softball team has a net for their batting
cage thats hangs on the south side of the arena, directly
above the net used for track and field throwers, a.k.a.
the enormous and seemingly useless netted metal contraption.
In order for the batters to use their cage they must
remove the throwers' net. Oft times they do not replace
the net properly, which creates a problem when track
practice rolls around. According to track coach Matt
Ingebritsen, it takes an estimated fifteen minutes to
set up the net after the softball girls have moved it.
If it's not set up right, then the implements his throwers
use could seriously injure either themselves or others
due to the malfunctioning net. On the topic of track
practice, the reserved floor at the 1:30 practice time
posted on a large plywood sign in the entrance of the
fieldhouse hardly deters students from using the track
or the floor, creating another hazard which wastes the
coaches', the athletes', and the students' time. There
are far too many people trying to use the field house
floor at a given time, not to mention the upstairs weight
facility.
Problem number two: strange, strange hours. Okay, the
hours of the fieldhouse aren't all that strange, but
why was it that up until about a month ago that it wasn't
open on Sundays? The problem is fixed to a degree although
their
website has yet to fix the error; it is now
open from noon until five, and Sundays are arguably
the best day to get an extra workout in- free machines,
open track, empty floor, great music- it's a wonder
they took so long to open up on Sundays!
Problems three...and four: These two problems aren't
quite as vicious as, say, confusing allotted times,
but they're annoying nonetheless. The first can easily
be mended by having individuals supply product for their
own hydration, but it's expected that a collegiate workout
facility would properly accomodate their patrons(and
patronesses). There are, in fact, only three water fountains,
two of which are approximately thirteen steps away from
eachother on the bottom floor- a markedly short distance
considering the total square footage of the building.
It's not a terrible distance from one end of
the fieldhouse to the other, but the fact that there
is no water available to those on the South end is surprising,
as well as the fact that there is only one fountain
available upstairs. The second of these not so problematic
problems is the sporadic change of lane direction. Need
there be a sign dictating the "Direction of the Day"
when most are familiar with the accepted worldwide counterclockwise
direction of tracks? This change is especially disheartening
when the track team runners come in full force and begin
to run the correct, if not stated, direction and practically
plow down the unfortunate students who were following
the faulty sign(if not the one that indicates that the
track is off limits for the designated time). Huge problems?
Not so much. Annoying? Indeed.
It wouldn't be too difficult for these problems to
be eradicated. One possible solution would be for the
school to recognize just how many championships the
track team has honored the school with and reward them
with a better facility worthy of their Division One
status instead of providing an extravagant complex for
the football team (talk about overcompensating). The
fieldhouse could stay for students and softball teams
alike, and the track and field team could host the WAC
championships for the indoor season, something they
haven't been able to do due to the lack of space. Another
solution could be to add on to the fieldhouse to allow
for more room and to enforce the rules that are already
in play when the teams need to practice. The softball/track
net controversy is still a little sketchy, but giving
the track team their own facility would surely amend
that problem. Visit the Utah Statesman's online
opinion page to see what
one particular student finds problematic with the fieldhouse.
And, of course, there is always the
outdoor recreation center to
ease the congestion of the facility.
And who is Nelson anyway? You know, the Nelson Fieldhouse?
Does anybody know? There are definitely changes in store
for this poor excuse for a workout facility.
MS
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