April 8, 2009
Date: April 8, 2009
To: John Smith
From: GMU Student
Subject: Utilizing Field House Training Facility for Athletes Only

A staple of NCAA Division-One Athletics at universities across the country are private athletic training facilities. These facilities are dedicated and reserved for athletes only because athletes need an intense, focus driven environment, where they can train without distraction. George Mason University currently has no reserved athletic training facility. The Field House, where athletes train, is currently shared with the student population. If instead, the University used the Field House specifically for athletes, athletics as a whole and ultimately the University would benefit.

Benefits of an Athlete Only Training Facility

At NCAA Division-One institutions, athletic training facilities are tailored to provide an environment that induces and mandates athletes to improve physically. At the University of New Mexico, a school with a very strong athletic history, the head strength and conditioning coach, Mark Paulsen, says that weight training is directly correlated with performance. When athletes perform, a university receives public recognition and ultimately capital, something every college wants and needs. He also feels that private training facilities bring out the potential in athletes that regular weight rooms do not. These public gyms only limit and distract athletes.

In sharing the weight room, problems have plagued trainers and athletes alike. Trainers have noted that having non-athletes in the weight room creates distractions and destroys equipment. Athletes on the other hand have timing and scheduling issues because of how crowded the weight room becomes during scheduled lifts. When an athlete is coached in the weight room, the equipment they use is properly handled. In contrast, non-athlete students have little respect or knowledge and tend to misuse equipment. This equipment is expensive and is difficult to replace because of budget constraints. For instance, earlier this year a machine was purchased, and after about three months, is now defect. The professional trainers simply blame the student population because students do not know how to use the equipment.

A second problem would be spacing and scheduling. During scheduled lift periods there may be multiple teams lifting at the same time. In addition to these teams, an average of ten non-athletes will be present as well. This impedes heavily on the lifting coaches ability to have teams lift in rhythm and stay on schedule. Athletes are on a schedule. The normal student does not have meetings, practice, weight training, and on top of all that, school. The University of Georgia head Strength and Conditioning Coach stated that a separate weight room is a necessity when considering an athlete’s time constraints. He also felt that a separate weight room cuts down on a third problem, distractions. When lifting with the student population, conversations, obnoxious noises, misuse of equipment, and waiting in line to use equipment, all become major distractions.

An Evolving Campus, an Evolving Athletic Program

With the growth of the campus, the University has built the Aquatic Center and Southside Gym. The size of these gyms can more than appease the student demand for exercise. These facilities are also state of the art and contain more advanced, efficient, and safer equipment than the Field House. This makes lifting in the Field House obsolete and illogical for non-athlete students anyway.

At the University of West Virginia a new 3,000 square foot facility was built just for their athletes . Even though West Virginia is on a whole different level, the example still speaks volumes. At WVU, athletics are taken seriously, and it obviously has a positive impact on their University. Therefore, mimicking the priorities from top level programs would be a great step in taking George Mason University and George Mason athletics to a new level of stardom. On a smaller scale, specifying the Field House for athletes would be a tiny but strong step towards making George Mason a top NCAA Division-One university.

Creating a Positive Solution

As mentioned above, there are many problems associated with sharing an athletic weight room with the rest of the student population. From damaged equipment to distractions, anything that prevents athletes from fulfilling their potential not only hurts the athletic department, but ultimately the University as well. Since there has been an addition of two new weight lifting facilities there is plenty of room to reserve the Field House for athletes only. With the examples set from some of the best sports programs in the country, it could greatly benefit the Athletic department and University to consider this option. I will follow up next Thursday, April 16 to answer any questions you may have. If you have any questions before then, you can reach me at ext. 107. Thank you for your time.