As classes come to an end and exam season begins, there will still be plenty of opportunities for students to stay active this spring and summer at the RAWC.
The Medium sat down with Rachel Tennant and Cameron Walker, the program coordinators at the Department of Physical Education, to learn about the available programs this summer.
All the drop-in fitness classes, such as Zumba, continue to run throughout the summer. “We are a 12-month-a-year program. We do run programs 12 months a year. We do recognize that during exam periods, we lose our gym, so we have to pare down our programming for that, but we do offer—there’s a pretty full contingent of fitness classes that are offered all spring and all summer. The pool continues to have drop-in rec swimming two or three times a day, and there are some instructional classes,” says Tennant.
“We have dedicated hours during the middle of the day [for certain activities], even in July and August, when we have summer camp. We have badminton 12 to 1 every day on one side of the gym, and on the other side will be basketball from 12 to 1 every day,” adds Walker.
Aside from the planned hours of activity, students still have the option to rent out equipment and use the field or gym as usual. When there is a smaller student population on campus, Tenant says it is “less organized sport—more casual.”
“I would say that something that is less used by students but should be more used is the schedule tool at the bottom of our page. So if you go to utmeagles.ca and then scroll to the bottom, there’s a sortable tool,” Walker explains. “It’s a five-day schedule and you can sort it by seeing everything. Or if you want to just see drop-in sports opportunities, you want to see just recreational swimming opportunities, you want to just see group fitness opportunities, sort through to what you want, and it’ll display for that day—sort of the first three—and if you want more details, you just hit the day.”
When it comes to organized sports for the summer, there has been some discussion on running tournaments, but it requires some more student interest. “I’m sure if there was some interest from students, we would be able to run a couple of small leagues, whether that’s soccer, basketball, or another sport, if that was high in interest. I know that volleyball is up and coming as well. We have beach volleyball courts that people can use,” says Walker. “If it’s something that students want, they should definitely let us know.”
“Once the field is open, we have a dedicated group of faculty staff and students who go out and play soccer on the field, and that’s a long, long, long standing program, and tons of folks participate over the course of the summer. It’s a lot of fun and a good way to get out into the sun,” Walker adds. He also says that even people who have graduated, or even retired, can come back just to kick a ball around and enjoy the weather. All ages and all levels of playing ability are welcome to join.
Classes might be over soon, but if you are returning for summer classes or just want to purchase a summer membership for the RAWC, there are still opportunities to “just get out there and find something fun to do and be active,” encourages Tennant.
