The Students Asked For...
If you build it, they will come. If you build it according to their specifications, they will come in droves.
By Lisa Stiepock
Photos by Peter Morenus
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Some 6,000 students a day are spinning the turnstiles at the new Student Rec Center across from Gampel.
They asked for enough gyms to accommodate both intramural play and random, anytime play. In addition to an enormous basketball court that can host four full-length or eight half-court games, there’s a multi-use gym engineered so the flip of a switch raises and lowers hoops and nets to allow badminton, volleyball, soccer, field hockey, basketball, or whatever merriment a whim desires.
Beyond the court, no waiting was a big ask — and get — in the form of swimming lanes, exercise equipment including lots of ellipticals and free weights, room to climb and keep climbing, places to lay your mat and stretch, skip rope, or train to be the next great Ninja Warrior.
Are there discounted alumni memberships? Yes.
»Some 6,000 students a day are spinning the turnstiles at the new Student Rec Center across from Gampel.
They asked for enough gyms to accommodate both intramural play and random, anytime play. In addition to an enormous basketball court that can host four full-length or eight half-court games, there’s a multi-use gym engineered so the flip of a switch raises and lowers hoops and nets to allow badminton, volleyball, soccer, field hockey, basketball, or whatever merriment a whim desires.
Beyond the court, no waiting was a big ask — and get — in the form of swimming lanes, exercise equipment including lots of ellipticals and free weights, room to climb and keep climbing, places to lay your mat and stretch, skip rope, or train to be the next great Ninja Warrior.
Are there discounted alumni memberships? Yes.
Students asked for...
Badminton before Midnight
Students were tired of waiting for intramural teams to finish playing before they could set up badminton courts and so intensely craved their badminton that they would come to the old gym to play in the middle of the night. A separate multiuse gym means intramurals can play on in the massive basketball court while birdies fly next door. Haowen Yang ’23 (ENG), from Wuxi, China, and his friends wasted no time taking advantage.
Students asked for...
Court Time!
From early morning to early morning, the massive basketball gym has been so packed with players you can't tell where one scrimmage ends and the next begins — it accommodates 4 full-court or 8 half-court games.
Students asked for...
Bigger Pools
Two pools means lap swimmers and leisure swimmers, or polo players and movie watchers (yes, there are floating “Jaws” viewings planned), need not squabble.
Students asked for...
Ninja Warrior workouts
One floor up Titan/Ninja Warrior wannabes take to the turf for exercise that’s anything but ordinary. Jacob’s ladders, monster tires, and monkey bars answer students’ desire to mix it up. Brian Metro ’22 (CLAS) from Londonderry, New Hampshire, tried the arm-over-arm sled pull.
Students asked for...
A really, really tall climbing wall
Walk through the tallest collegiate rock wall in New England (56 feet tall) to get to the bouldering features on the flip side. “It’s incredible — there’s something for all levels,” said New Haven’s Elie Azoff-Slifstein ’20 (ENG) — in the green shirt.
Students asked for...
More equipment — a LOT more
You want way more machines? How’s 200? “This place is off the charts,” said Ellie Willis ’22 (CLAS), from Storrs, who was flexing her time management skills by simultaneously studying and working out.
Floor 1
- adventure equipment to rent
- 8-lane competition and 3-lane leisure pools
- café
- 2 fitness zones
- locker rooms
- climbing center
Floor 2
- wellness studios
- cycle studio
- functional training
- 2 fitness zones
- mind-body studio with outdoor terrace
Floor 3
- 3 racquetball courts
- 4 full-size basketball courts
- multiuse gymnasium
Floor 4
- 3-lane, ⅙-mile track looks down at gyms and out at Gampel and Horsebarn Hill
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