by Lana Douglas
Staff Writer
It seems like there is never enough gym equipment to go around. Students and athletes impatiently wait for the elliptical machines. Meanwhile, there are two stair steppers that are almost never used; they are just taking up space.
Sophomore Liz Olsen and junior Catherine Anderson noticed that students were not using the stair stepper machines, and that there was a shortage of elliptical and bike machines last year.
Anderson and Olsen are on the Bryan cross country team and often frequent the gym.
“Many times, we would go into the gym to workout and all the machines were full,” said Anderson.
According to junior Ericka Simpson, many of the athletes who are injured or can’t run are told to workout on the elliptical machines because they are not weight bearing, which makes it easier on the athletes.
The stair steppers are not very user friendly and don’t get used very often, according to Anderson.
Anderson and Olsen decided to start a petition because they wanted to let the Athletics Department know that it wasn’t just the students who support this change, but members of the faculty and some of the coaches support it as well.
According to Athletics Director Sandy Zensen, new equipment is needed because there are many people who use the ellipticals and would benefit from them.
The petition proposes to remove the two stair steppers and replace them with another elliptical and two bicycles.
“The space should be used efficiently and effectively…by replacing the stair steppers with ellipticals and bikes, we can make better use of the space that we have,” said Anderson.
There were close to 100 names on the petition as of this week. Earlier this school year, Bryan bought three new treadmills for the gym for about $10,000, according to Vice President for Finance Vance Berger.
Next year’s budget has another $10,000 that could be used for new equipment in the gym.
Zensen, Berger and Jordan Mattheiss, sports information director and facilities manager, will meet in March to discuss the budget and the other needs of the Athletics Department. The budget will be finalized sometime in April.
This is something that will benefit the faculty as well as the athletes and students on campus, according to Anderson.
Students who would like to sign the petition can contact Catherine Anderson at canderson9487@bryan.edu or Liz Olsen at eolsen4678@bryan.edu.
Tags: Catherine Anderson, Ericka Simpson, Jordan Mattheiss, Liz Olsen, Sandy Zensen, Vance Berger
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