Club sports teams are in the process of finding new practicing facilities due to the closure of the East Gym for the 2010-11 academic year.
Club water polo team has been forced to practice off campus this semester at the Jewish Community Center, located on Clubhouse Road near University Plaza, due to its members’ need for a pool.
Janice Bennett, the associate director of Campus Recreational Services, said that other club sports teams have been able to make use of the fields around the East Gym for the time being, but that off-campus arrangements may also have to be made for those accustomed to using the East Gym to practice indoors during the colder winter months.
According to Bennett, CRS is also currently exploring whether the club water polo team, which has between 20 and 30 members, can make limited use of the West Gym pool for conditioning swimming, as they have done in the past. The move to the Jewish Community Center is still necessary, however, because the West Gym pool does not allow for full water polo practice with balls and goals.
‘We’ve had to make some temporary compromises while the East Gym is under construction, but have tried to make sure that no one group is taxed more than any other, or that if it could not be avoided, that they’re not the ones paying out of their budget,’ Bennett said.
The University’s rental of the Jewish Community Center’s pool, where the club water polo team holds two-hour practices on Monday and Wednesday nights, costs $140 per week. This expense over the course of the year would represent a significant portion of the team’s funding if it were to be paid out of their discretionary budget, which the Club Sports Financial Council has set at $2954 for 2010-11, but it is being provided by the Club Sports Office.
‘The Student Association has allocated funding to off-set the costs of club sports teams having to move off campus during the renovation of the East Gym,’ Bennett said.
SA Vice President for Finance Adam Shamah said that the SA has allocated $128,000 to club sports this year, a $20,000 increase over the allocation for 2009-10, and that Campus Recreational Services decides how this money is spent.
Jeremiah Deboever, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering and co-president of the club water polo team, said that he and other members of the team are happy with the current compromise and look forward to the East Gym’s upgraded facility.
‘Craig Dube, who’s in charge of club sports, was extremely helpful in getting a pool over the summer for us to use this year,’ Deboever said. ‘It’s only about five minutes off campus by car, and while ideally a pool used for water polo should be wider and deeper than the Jewish [Community] Center’s pool, we’re adapting to it and looking forward to having a full six lanes when the East Gym reopens.’
Construction on the East Gym began at the end of this past summer and is scheduled to be completed in fall 2011. The renovation project had been scheduled to begin just after the spring 2010 commencement, but was delayed due to a statewide freeze on capital funds.
While the East Gym is under renovation, the cardio equipment has been moved to the Old University Union. FitSpace classes are also being held in the Old Union.