When you walk into the RecPlex there is a bustling cardio area to your left, an Olympic-size pool on the floor below and a basketball complex big enough to run four full-court games simultaneously.
A quick trip down the steps to the right, however, will reveal a weight room that looks like it belongs in a prison rather than a University with a $40K plus price tag.
It is unfortunate that Fairfield does not offer better athletic facilities to its students. Alumni Hall looks like a grammar school gym, the cardio machines are either broken or being used, and the weight room is antiquated, to say the least.
Director of the RecPlex and Aquatics Phil Palumbo filled me in on why the facilities in the RecPlex are so lackluster.
“There is a master plan to remodel Alumni Hall and the RecPlex. The plan is being constructed at a level above me,” he said. “The project will not be completed within the tenure of any current students.”
So, there is a plan, but it seems that it moving extremely slow.
This does very little to comfort irritated students exercising with chipping weight plates, missing dumbbells and dirty, torn-up benches.
“I used to be afraid to come down here,” admitted Grace Duy ’10.
My workout partner, Phil Spada ’10, admits that he has a passion for pumping iron. His bulging arms and small calves fit perfectly with the misshapen physique being achieved by “My New Haircut” wannabees who populate the weight room on a consistent basis.
“The weight room is all right, but it needs more equipment,” he said. “There are two cable machines but there are only two carabiners for the cables. It makes no sense.”
The issue of the weight room is a hot issue for Palumbo, who defended the amount of money, time and effort put into the upkeep of that particular exercise area.
“A majority of the equipment in that room has arrived since 2003 and was in perfect condition,” he said. “It is abused on a daily basis, and that’s why it looks the way it does.”
Palumbo added that over $50,000 has gone into that room since 2003, and that he refuses to continue to dump money into it if students disregard its upkeep.
“The kids who use it don’t take care of it because they don’t think we put enough funds and equipment into it. I refuse to replace things on a yearly basis because I know the kids won’t take care of it,” he said.
On Friday, I walked down to the weight room, stepped over scattered weights, looked for missing dumbbells and saw the seat of a bench just fall off.
I interrupted Keith Bussanich ’10 mid-workout and asked him what he thought of the facility in which he was lifting.
“It’s like a dungeon,” he said.
While it is the responsibility of the school to provide students with a quality level of exercise equipment, students are the ones in the weight room on a daily basis and are responsible for its decrepit conditions.
Every student should have to accept responsibility for their own actions. Why can’t it start with showing a hint of respect for our weight room?
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