Measuring Up to the Standards: Perry Filed House
On Thursday October 20, 2011 I had the opportunity to take a tour of Bowling Green State University’s Perry Field House by Lona Leck. Her tour of the facility was very through as we did not leave a single space with questions unanswered. She was really able to work in the key components of what the class was currently learning, since after all she teaches the class. During the tour we were giving real life examples of storage spaces, court planning, indoor track space and equipment, and bleaches are used and able to think critically about the positives and negatives of their facility set up.
BGSU’s Perry Field House contains four basketball courts, track, sand pit, and pole vaulting area in one section and an Astroturf room in the other half. The sports courts and track area have been planned in tight quarters. The basketball court section however has enough room to allow competitors to comfortably use the area. Each court is separated by about seven feet from side line to side line. There are dividers that can drop down from the ceiling that create four separate compartments to catch stray balls from entering play going on in adjacent courts. The courts can be used for volleyball and tennis (on composite court only) which have special holes where poles can be dropped in to hold up nets. This avoids the need of weighted posts which can be dangerous to players and spectators alike.
The storage situation in the Perry Field House is one that requires careful management in order to hold the necessary supplies. The facility only holds what it needs for daily operations, small sporting events, and team practices. When the facility is to hold larger events, they have rental companies or use other BGSU building equipment. The space in storage rooms are specially organized to give each department its space while doing it an effective manner.
Indoor track lay out suffers in the fact that it is squeezed into a smaller than normal area. Durring a track meet the basketball courts will hold spectators while events will occur on the track. However due the crowded design, only one event can take place at a time. When the pole vaulting area is in use the landing mats overlaps two of the four running lanes. While the sand pit is in use officials and players will be walking around the area and would be very difficult to avoid crossing into the track area. The sand pit also lacks a realistic way of being properly covered when not in use. There are special hard metal track covers, but are quite heavy and difficult to place. Currently a soft mat covers the pit preventing people from falling in.
The Perry Field House faces several problems when it comes to seating spectators when attending BGSU sponsored events. The facility relies on portable bleachers when hosting sporting events which must be carefully planned in order to avoid crowding. This it particularly hard to do in the Astroturf room where there is very little room between the sidelines and wall. This room however isn’t ideal for competitive games, but for team practices when the conditions are poor outside. The track room has enough room to accommodate visitors that attend events. When the courts are in use, bleachers are set up on the track and vice versa.