ASSIGNMENT #3: U OF M CAMPUS RECREATION INTRAMUAL SERVICES 1

Assignment #3: U of M Campus Recreation Intramural Services

SLS 3305 Leisure and Recreation Program Development

Jonathan Bussey

University of Memphis
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The University of Memphis recently broke ground on building a new campus

recreation center. This is a great thing for the University of Memphis. There are several

benefits of having a campus recreation center. A new campus recreation center is huge

attraction for current and incoming students at the University of Memphis. This is very

important to have. This is a big tool for student involvement and a way for students to

participate in a healthy lifestyle. Another plus for having an updated campus recreation

center is that it is free for all current full time University of Memphis students. This is a

big deal, because of how broke most college students are. Therefore, having a free, on

campus recreation center eliminates students having to pay for a gym membership

somewhere else.

Having a campus recreation center impacts a college student’s experience in so

many positive ways. A plus for a new updated recreation center is that you can offer

several activities to entertain college students. For example, great weight room facilities,

new intramural fields, up to date cardio machines, several new workout classes, and new

gymnasiums. These new facilities will make a college student’s experience so much

better. I believe that for some students this will have an impact on their enrollment at a

school. You don’t want to have any reasons at a public state university for a student to

not want to attend. Especially because of how much colleges compete in enrollment. A

bad or not up to date campus recreation center could be a big turn off for some students

that enjoy living a healthy lifestyle.

I am super excited for the University of Memphis and the new recreation

facilities. The new blueprints of the recreation center are phenomenal. I love how they are

not tearing down the current recreation center. But instead, they are upgraded it and
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building a new bigger one to go with it. I love some of the new attractions that the

recreation center is getting. For example, an indoor track, new fitness studios, integrating

academic classrooms, a demonstration/teaching kitchen, and a healthy food café. My

initial reaction to this was astonishing, I am so excited to see the finished work.

I think that the blueprints for the campus recreation center looked great. However,

I would have liked to have seen how the locker rooms are going to be upgraded. The

current locker rooms need a big make over. Another thing I wish they were adding was

pickleball courts. Pickleball is a fun new sport that is growing in America. Besides these

two things, I think the blueprints for the new campus recreation center look phenomenal.

The state of Tennessee has some of the nation’s top colleges. These schools have

a lot to offer, including top notch campus recreation facilities. For example, Vanderbilt

University in Nashville, TN has a recently renovated campus recreation facility with

290,000 square feet of indoor space. Therefore, this is much bigger than the 74,000

square foot facility that University of Memphis is building. However, they have some

things in common. For example, they both will have or already have an indoor track,

multipurpose indoor pool, a teaching kitchen, and a big fitness room with several free

weights and cardio machines. One thing that Vanderbilt University has that would be

unique to have at the University of Memphis would be a climbing wall and a bowling

alley. Another great university in Tennessee is the University of Tennessee located in

Knoxville, TN. This campus recreation center is a little older. However, they have

updated it over the years to compete with other top campus recreation centers in the state

of TN. They have several big facilities that are very attractive. For example, they have a

huge weight room with over 80 cardio machines, four regulation size basketball courts,
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and an indoor circular track. Memphis will soon offer an indoor track that will help them

compete with these two school’s impressive recreation centers.

In closing, I hope to see the University of Memphis continue to update the

campus recreation center in the future. I hope that they continue to see how much joy it

brings the students that attend the University of Memphis to have a campus recreation

center to be proud of.