2008 Woodie Awards
Readers speak up on current athletic issues
Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: Sports
These letters were written as an assignment for Brent Johnson's Expository Writing Class.
Indoor facilities take priority
As I walked out of the weight room in the Pacific Athletic Center my hair began to bead up with raindrops. This is common during many days of the year here in the Northwest, no matter the season. With our school currently growing at a rapid rate with many prospective students interested in degrees in Exercise Science or dedicating to the schools athletics, attention should be paid to the training facilities. It has been impressive the amount of finances supporting the new track and baseball fields, but a realization of the annual precipitation in Forest Grove being 44.58 inches according to www.grovenet.org, shows that the indoor facilities should have priority.
This request is not to be misunderstood as ungrateful for the funding recently provided for the outdoor improvements but curious as to why a project to improve the indoor facility as well has not been made known. This should be an encouragement to put financial support into the weight room by expanding the current PAC.
Due to the weather here in the Northwest the athletes are forced to train much of the year indoors. I find it crucial to offer an adequate facility with enough equipment (such as treadmills and elliptical machines) for the student body which supports it.
After many conversations I have had and overheard, I am confident that on this topic I do not stand alone. Perhaps the athletes here would find it more inspiring and easier to succeed in athletic training with an all around adequate facility in which to excel. One might say a that the athlete is competing in this climate therefore should be acclimated by training in it but this view disregards those who exercise year round who are not competitors.
I find my request valid having transferred from a university on the other side of the state that did this very thing. By remodeling the weight room at my previous university and updating our equipment, the dynamics of the weight room and the population that the new facility drew in was drastically changed. Not only were the athletes attitude changed for the better but also students who previously did not exercise found the new facility less intimidating and began working out.
Indoor facilities take priority
As I walked out of the weight room in the Pacific Athletic Center my hair began to bead up with raindrops. This is common during many days of the year here in the Northwest, no matter the season. With our school currently growing at a rapid rate with many prospective students interested in degrees in Exercise Science or dedicating to the schools athletics, attention should be paid to the training facilities. It has been impressive the amount of finances supporting the new track and baseball fields, but a realization of the annual precipitation in Forest Grove being 44.58 inches according to www.grovenet.org, shows that the indoor facilities should have priority.
This request is not to be misunderstood as ungrateful for the funding recently provided for the outdoor improvements but curious as to why a project to improve the indoor facility as well has not been made known. This should be an encouragement to put financial support into the weight room by expanding the current PAC.
Due to the weather here in the Northwest the athletes are forced to train much of the year indoors. I find it crucial to offer an adequate facility with enough equipment (such as treadmills and elliptical machines) for the student body which supports it.
After many conversations I have had and overheard, I am confident that on this topic I do not stand alone. Perhaps the athletes here would find it more inspiring and easier to succeed in athletic training with an all around adequate facility in which to excel. One might say a that the athlete is competing in this climate therefore should be acclimated by training in it but this view disregards those who exercise year round who are not competitors.
I find my request valid having transferred from a university on the other side of the state that did this very thing. By remodeling the weight room at my previous university and updating our equipment, the dynamics of the weight room and the population that the new facility drew in was drastically changed. Not only were the athletes attitude changed for the better but also students who previously did not exercise found the new facility less intimidating and began working out.
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