Classes have just resumed but construction has hardly stopped on the new Recreation and Wellness Center (RWC) on campus. The center is set to open in time for the fall 2018 semester. The RWC will house a wide variety of activities and events that will be available to students.
As the Director for Campus Recreation and Wellness, Brian Mills is responsible for planning and organizing the many activities that will be hosted in the center. The new facility will feature open recreation, which includes a variety of team sports, a walking track and other programs and classes. Mills hopes to develop extended intramural sports leagues that last for several weeks at a time. The RWC will also house a fitness program that will consist of three branches: personal training, group fitness and wellness education.
Mills’ department is currently working on a sports club program that would allow student organized sports clubs to participate at the center. Mills said in order for a club to use the facility, they would have to be a recognized sports club with a national governing body such as Men’s Soccer.
Mills is hoping to establish more sports clubs on campus in addition to Men’s Soccer, such as Women’s Soccer, a rugby club and a table tennis club. While Mills wants to ensure the many sports clubs have a space to meet, he also acknowledges he has to be smart about the way allocation of the space is prioritized during peak times.
“Say [the Volleyball Club] wanted to practice three days a week from 6 to 8 o’ clock, that’s not gonna be possible,” Mills said. “That would be us taking an entire basketball/volleyball court offline for this very small group of students.”
One of Mills’ biggest goals for the facility is to provide a space for students to play sports and pass time on campus while also giving students a reason to return to campus. Mills is currently working on a membership program that allows not only UHCL students, alumni, faculty and staff to use this facility but extends to the families of those parties.
Mills is open to the possibility of opening the RWC to members of the community, however before doing so he wants to see how the facility will be used. He plans to regulate when community members are allowed into the RWC so the facility is not full during peak times for student use.
Some students who are graduating before the center is complete expressed concern about their ability to use the facility since their tuition helped pay for it.
Justin Murphy, president of the Student Government Association, said there are definitely whispers that a number of students are unhappy about paying for a new center that they will not be able to use. Murphy has not had anyone directly approach him with a complaint about the building, but he has heard complaints around campus.
Murphy admitted that at first he, too, felt it was unfair since he is graduating in December 2018 and will only get to use the center for one semester. However, Murphy believes that it had to happen at some point, and there had to be a time in which someone would pay for it who would not get to use it.
Murphy believes this new center will be a great way to attract more students to campus.
“If we were [going to] implement a campus rec. building, this would have been the time to do it as we are a growing campus,” Murphy said.
The Recreation and Wellness Center is on schedule to have a grand opening the first week of August.
