by
Ryan Smith
Hugh Hoyles
June 18, 2003 - The largest fitness organization in Edmonton is getting bigger. The University of Alberta Campus Recreation program has just finished its biggest year ever, compiling 28,313 registrations in 541 courses offered between May 1, 2002 and April 30, 2003. This is slightly higher than the record high numbers for registrations and courses set two years ago.
"I think these numbers prove that the quality of life is good for everyone on campus who cares about their own fitness and well-being," said Dr. Rod Fraser, president of the U of A.
Hugh Hoyles, director of the U of A Campus Recreation program, agrees with Fraser, and adds that participation in Campus Recreation activities provides more than exercise--it's also a social network for many people.
"If you take our hockey arena, for example, every night we have four games going on there, so that's eight teams that play every night, and I know the players on those teams are friends or they develop friendships while they play," Hoyles said.
"Also, our programs are totally integrated. We have secretaries, deans, professors, students, and building staff, you name it, all participating together in our activities and clubs, and that gives me a lot of pleasure to see how our programs bring people together on campus," Hoyles added.
In spite of the large numbers of people on campus participating in activities that range from intramurals to dance classes to yoga to karate, Hoyles believes the numbers could be even higher if the U of A was able to increase its capacity to offer more programs.
"For example, the mixed volleyball program reached its limit of 96 teams within two hours of opening for registration, and 26 teams had to be turned away," Hoyles said.
But Hoyles is optimistic that the trend toward growth will continue. One reason for this, he said, is that many of the new buildings being built on campus, including the new dormitory, will include fitness facilities. He also thinks that continued high-quality organization and course instruction will keep the Campus Recreation program healthy.
"We have a lot of volunteers helping us, and we're fortunate to have a practicum program set up--which I think some other universities are beginning to copy--in which our second and third-year physical education and recreation students run campus recreation programs for us. I think the death knell for any recreation program happens when you throw out a ball and let things go unsupervised," Hoyles added.
Related story
Campus Rec reaches far and wide (ExpressNews, July 24, 2002):
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/expressnews/articles/news.cfm?p_ID=2754&s=a Related link – internal
The U of A Campus Recreation website:
http://campusrec.ualberta.ca/
Address of this ExpressNews article:
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=4510
