On Thursday, September 8th, my classmates and I took a tour of the BGSU Recreation Center. I thought the class tour of the BGSU rec. center was very informative and insightful. I expected to hear facts i already knew about this facility and visit rooms i have been in multiple times. I am glad to say we viewed parts of the facility on our tour I have never seen before, and recieved good history about the rec. center’s 32 years of existence.
Coming into this tour, I did not think too highly of our rec. center. I thought it was too out of date, and did not have enough workout equipment in the heart of its facility. I have always thought the rec. center needed to receive an up-to-date upgrade that would increase its overall look. This is a facility that had a positive and nice image and structure in the 1980’s, but it quickly looked old and dull as structures of facilities quickly became revamped in the 1990’s. What made me think the rec. center looked out-of-date was the wood paneling all around the downstairs area, and alot of the equipment that seemed like it had not been upgraded for many years. What else bothered me about this facility was the raquetball courts. Unfortunately, this is a declining sport, and it is rarely played now-a-days in this facility, and many of the courts are used for storage or just take up room.
I am glad some of my concerns were ansered during this tour. It was refreshing to knaw that in the near future or rec. center would be receiving some upgrades to give it a better up-to-date look. Our tour gave us good insight by our instructor as to what the university officals and rec. leaders were planning on doing to upgrade the rec. He told us the wood panelling would soon be replaced by some metal structures or new wood that would not make the rec center so old. He also said that they had plans to get rid of some of the raquetball courts to build areas of recreation that were more popular in todays society. This was nice to hear that people had serious plans to help the image of this facility and work would begin within the next couple of years. I am excited to come back in the future to see how it looks a few years down the road. I hope this would bring in more occupants of the facility from around town, to help fund the rec. center so even more renovations could happen in the future.
Overall, I thought the tour went well. i really enjoyed the downstairs view of the Cooper Pool and seeing the equipment that helpes run the pool on a daily basis. I enjoyed hearing the history of the rec. center and hearing the unique ideas they had 20 plus years ago. I hope the rec. center continues ot be a positive place for students and residence and renovations will conttinually help out this facility.
