The University of Oregon Student Recreation Center is alive and well. And student fitness instructor Christian Cullen’s voice is a symbol of that prolific energy.
Cullen’s amplified barks to the 20 students taking the “Yard X Circuit” class are heard by every person entering the facility. The reason: The new Fitness Yard, where the class takes place, is located on the second deck right in front of students as they swipe their cards and access the newly renovated structure.
“Almost there,” Cullen says, with a microphone sending echoes throughout the center. “Five seconds… three, two, one.”
The Yard X Circuit is a brand new class that offers a type of functional training that is in such high demand now a days. It is located in an open area that probably wouldn’t have been well designed for anything else, according to UO Director of Physical Education and Recreation Kevin Marbury.
The area features medicine balls, kettle bells, battle ropes and has possibly become the most popular new feature the facility has to offer. Within 48 hours of its re-opening on Jan. 5, the battle ropes had already been worn out.
“People in the fitness industry were like, ‘I’ve never seen that happen,’” said assistant director of fitness Chantelle Russell.
Additionally, the Yard X class that Cullen teaches on Wednesday nights is capped at 20 students, and he and fellow instructor Taylor Sidore usually have to turn students away. It’s an example of the rapid growth fitness classes are having here.
Since 2009, the UO student rec center’s Group X workouts – a series of fitness sessions for drop-in involvement – have experienced a 136 percent increase in participation. The programming had 31,984 participations in 2012-13, up from 13,564 participations in 2009-10. The number of workout sessions offered since that time has also risen from 87 to 197 and the number of student-instructors teaching them has shot up from a measly three to 27.
Numbers like these are what Marbury and the rest of the student recreation administrative staff are interested in.
In January, the UO became the latest college to include a state-of-the-art facility that cost $50 million in student fees to renovate. With 110,000 square feet of new space and 40,000 feet of renovated space, it is, as a statement from the university noted, “much more than a place to sweat now.”
The rec center’s features include a 12-lane, 25-yard pool, a whirlpool spa with a waterfall, a cycling room with 38 machines, multiple areas for weightlifting and a lobby that boasts a 32-screen video array.
But other factors, such as accessibility, though less flashy than a mind-body yoga room, were just as key when the foundation was laid for the renovation.
Now, the facility possesses three help desks in the main lobby, versus the one that it had before. It has cut down on lines and generated distinct avenues where users can either get their questions answered at one desk, or grab a towel at another.
“Just using something as simple as traffic patterns helped us in terms of identifying traffic flow,” Marbury said, “which then impacts the quality experience of those individuals going forward.”
It may seem subtle, but those evidence-based decisions are what Marbury is set on continuing to make.
Down to the most fundamental value, Marbury simply wants to understand what students want and then figure out how this facility can help contribute to their overall development. Tracking the data of student habits is how he can best comprehend that.
“We look at everything from how often people come into the building, what groups they’re aligned with,” Marbury said.
Additionally, by incorporating a system called Fusion, the staff is able to monitor how many people are coming into the building, separated by class. It also told them that through the first 13 days that the rec center was open, there were 13,000 unique participations in the building.
Projections at the end of January also predicted that there will be almost a 12 percent increase of the amount of unique entrants to the rec center this term compared to the 2013 winter term.
Usage is up, that much is clear. But in order to maximize effectiveness, the department has made it a top priority in its strategic plan for 2014-2019 to assess just what demands each niche population of students have.
“We’re trying to get a better scope of our users in our totality,” said assistant director of membership services and student development Tiffany Lundy.
Lundy cites a study published by Brailsford & Dunlavey in December 2010 as a key ingredient for influencing that approach. In the study’s needs assessment, it became clear that the current facility in 2010 was not serving the student body at large.
Of the 4,553 students and 1,153 employees surveyed, 35 percent said a major reason for not pursuing on-campus recreation was due to overcrowded facilities. 51 percent of the respondents said that it should be either a very high or high priority to enhance the fitness facilities.
The finding serves as a launching pad for how to accurately understand how physical activity benefits college students for Stan Dura.
Dura, the director of student affairs assessment and research in the division of student life, wants to figure out ways of understanding just how physical activity and going to the rec center impacts students learning in college.
At Purdue and Michigan State, the universities discovered that students who exercise at their facilities, versus those who don’t, receive higher grade point averages.
Dura wants to take those findings one step further.
“Those are great studies but we want to do better than that,” Dura said. “What’s causing that relationship? Could it be that students that are just more engaged and motivated both exercise more and do better in school? What are you doing (at the gym) that impacts it? Does it have an impact immediately in terms of your attention and focus and memory in classes?”
It is clearly a long-term goal, but Dura’s questions are something that universities now have the resources to explore.
“We’re opening up doors to be able to look at things we never have before,” Dura said.
The old rec center was state-of-the-art at the time of its completed renovation in 2000. However, the facility was at over-capacity on the first day and, due to a consistent growth in enrollment over the years, the next phase, according to Lundy, was always looming.
It has now transformed into a center that includes names such as Fitness Block, Fitness Alley and Fitness Yard. The south weight room now serves a Crossfit gym. The multiple weight lifting areas have virtually eliminated the normal crowdedness between 4p.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays.
Instead of a dozen racquetball courts, the facility features a boxing studio, a turf-field with functional training equipment and dance classes like POUND – a cardio strength class to the beat of the music. In addition, a new set of basketball courts will be finished soon.
To be held responsible for all these sweeping, expensive expenditures, Marbury and his staff will continue to make effective programming decisions by using the data that is present.
“We want to be accountable,” Marbury said. “If we spend $50 million on something we want to make sure that $50 million is spent on something of value to our students, faculty and staff.”
Currently every student enrolled at the UO spends $93.75 per term to use the facility.
The return on investment for Marbury then is to retain those students and supply a “quality experience.”
Right now, all signs point to a step in a progressive direction.
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JustinFWise