When a university on a relatively small campus has a full listing of varsity sports teams, it’s only natural that the practice facilities will be coveted resources. Factor in all the club sports and intramural teams at UR — all of which need practice time of their own — and the demand for the available space becomes even more intense.
Often times, however, it seems that the casual athletes are lost in this frenzied skirmish — the group of friends who just want to head down to the gym to shoot some hoops or play a few games of tennis. On many occasions, these gym trips end in disappointment, as students get there only to realize that most or all of the courts have been reserved for some team’s practice, be it varsity or otherwise.
This problem is especially prevalent with the basketball and tennis courts in Goergen Athletic Center and the basketball courts in Spurrier Gym.
Of course, some of these space limitations are inevitable. One part of this problem that would be easy for the athletic department to ameliorate, however, is the lack of information available regarding the reservation status of athletic facilities. Students should not have to walk to the gym (frequently trekking through some inclement weather to do so) to find out if the courts have been reserved — rather, this information should be available through the UR Athletics website.
What is required here is a calendar, similar to the Events Calendar accessible from the University’s homepage, that lists the date and time of every game and practice taking place in Goergen and Spurrier. This may sound like a lot to ask for, but realistically, a schedule of all varsity games is already maintained, so it’s just a matter of integrating club and intramural sporting events — including practices — into that schedule. Should this prove to be a valuable resource to students, it could even be expanded to include games and practices on fields where there are fewer scheduling conflicts, such as the football and baseball fields.
In this case, a relatively simple addition to the Athletics website would make a major difference in maximizing the use of UR’s athletics facilities.
