A decision by IU Athletics officials to begin charging club sports teams to use athletic facilities ignited controversy last month. But the real problem, club members now say, is a continued lack of field space that forces them to use varsity facilities.\nRecreational Sports officials said some fields are so worn that they are hardly usable. One field was described as a “dust bowl,” while others need millions of dollars in repairs. But a proposed plan to fix the problem could be pushed to the back burner to give way to other University construction projects. \n“The bigger issue is that Club Sports and Recreational Sports have to go to Athletics for facilities in the first place,” said April Scheuerell, president of the Club Sports Federation, the governing body of IU’s 46 club teams. “The problem that Club Sports is having really extends to the entire campus because of the overall inadequacy of our facilities at this point in time.”\nField sports, including the club men’s and women’s lacrosse, rugby, ultimate frisbee and co-ed baseball and field hockey teams have few options when it comes to practice space. \nDuring the spring and fall seasons, those teams have access to three outdoor facilities: Woodlawn Field, Evan Williams Club Sport Field and North Fee Lane Fields. In the winter months, though, no large, indoor recreational space can accommodate them. \nWith no other large, multi-purpose indoor space, teams have little choice but to use the varsity facilities at John Mellencamp Pavilion during the winter months.\nThat’s now an issue, because IU Athletics announced Jan. 9 that, for the first time, club programs would have to pay $500 per week to use the space between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Monday-Thursday.\n“There’s no problem with varsity being separate and athletics being separate,” Scheuerell said, “but we should have our own (space) to make it separate. It shouldn’t be that they have (space) and we don’t have anything.”
A perpetual problem\nJacqueline Puterbaugh, associate director of RecSports, said the University understands these concerns. \n“Space has been an issue forever for Recreational Sports,” Puterbaugh said. “We know now that the facilities we have are inadequate. The space, the quality of it isn’t meeting the needs of students, and it’s limiting the programs that we offer.”\nThe current facilities aren’t keeping pace with the amount of interest, she said. Outdoor fields need work, she said, while indoor facilities have become overcrowded and outdated. \nGrass isn’t growing at the Woodlawn Field, outside of the HPER building. There’s no irrigation system there. And, in the evenings, only small security lights keep the fields lit, Puterbaugh said. \n“It’s essentially become a dust bowl,” Scheuerell said.\nIU Athletics is planning to build a new baseball and softball complex at the North Fee Lane site, although a construction date has not been finalized, Puterbaugh said. When that site is completed, though, club and intramural teams currently using the complex will have to find another place to play.\nIn HPER’s Wildermuth Gym, which was constructed in 1917, lights are antiquated, the roof leaks, the heating and ventilation need to be replaced and balls from the basketball courts sometimes hit runners on the adjacent track, Puterbaugh said. \nThe SRSC, built in 1994, needs additional space for strength and conditioning, group exercise classes, personal training and non-traditional activities such as table tennis and dancing, she said.
Potential solutions \nTo help solve the problem, RecSports officials commissioned Washington D.C.-based facility-planning firm Brailsford & Dunlavey in 2005 to “think out of the box” and find new ideas for recreational space, Puterbaugh said. \nThe firm conducted focus groups and surveyed students, faculty and staff members to get their opinions of the overall RecSports offerings on campus, including the HPER and the SRSC.\nThe firm also compared IU’s facilities with those in the community and other Big Ten institutions.\nIt found that about 32,000 students, or 87 percent of the student body, use Recreational Sports facilities. Of those, 62 percent said they use facilities weekly.\n“From my perspective and what I know,” Puterbaugh said, “it’s probably the most popular student activity on campus.” \nRecreational Sports officials, with the help of the Brailsford & Dunlavey planners, considered concerns and brainstormed ideas, Puterbaugh said. Their suggestions are now part of a new recreational facilities master plan that the IU Student Association and Student Recreational Sports Association is presenting to students for feedback. \nTheir ideas – which are all preliminary at this point and subject to change – include renovating and expanding the HPER building, adding new wings to the SRSC and building a new outdoor facility on 50 acres of land owned by IU near Range Road and the IU Cross Country Course, Puterbaugh said. \nThe cost of the master plan has yet to be determined, but could range from $70 million to $100 million, Puterbaugh said, based on comparable projects at other Big Ten schools. Construction would be financed by 25- to 30-year bonds, which would be paid off through student fees.\nTo drum up support for the plan, the Student Recreational Sports Association, the student voice of RecSports, and IUSA launched an eight-week newspaper advertising campaign outlining the plan and the reasons behind it. \nThe move to renovate and expand facilities here comes at a time when a growing number of universities are sprucing up their recreational facilities. Between 2006 and 2011, 220 college and universities nationwide will renovate, expand or build a new recreational facility, said Mary Callender, director of publications and educational resources for the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association. \n“The past 10 years has been a huge growth in construction and facility expansion,” she said.
No sure bet\nDespite the optimism about the new recreational master plan, officials said it’s not a sure thing. Before Recreational Sports officials can hire architects and move ahead with construction, the plan has to be approved by the board of trustees. \nPresident of the Student Recreational Sports Association Adriane Bookwalter said she hopes to present the plan at the trustees’ May 1 meeting. \nFunding, however, remains a challenge, said Kathy Bayless, director of RecSports.\nEven if the project gets all the necessary campus approvals, there’s still no guarantee that it will secure state bond money to begin construction, she said.\nThe reason, Bayless said, is that the State of Indiana sets a limit to the amount of debt it will take on at one time. IU President Michael McRobbie is requesting bonds to secure construction on numerous projects throughout the state, she said, which could potentially delay this project. \n“The president has a very ambitious plan,” she said. “Our project is one of many construction projects.” \nIn the coming weeks, RecSports officials will also conduct a price tolerance survey to see how much students would be willing to pay in the form of student fees to get the new facilities. \nEven with the challenges, Puterbaugh said her department is passionate about getting the master plan approved, because she knows students are interested in recreational activities. \n“When you have something that students care about this much,” she said, “and they’re participating at this level, and they want more of it and it’s good for them ... then we feel very committed to trying to get it for them.”
