Some students put the ‘dumb’ in ‘dumbbell’

Accidents are uncommon at senior Kinsey Gray’s job with Recreational Sports, but people have not failed to make things interesting during her shifts.

“One time this guy worked out while he was high and passed out and broke his nose,” she said.

The student was using the squat machine in the equipment room of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, she said. He became dizzy and passed out, falling on his face and jamming his nose upward.

Gray said when she asked the student’s friends if she could call an ambulance, they refused the offer and rushed the student to the bathroom.

“I radioed the team leader to check on him,” Gray said. “And she said the guy smelled like he had been smoking. They left before we could get any information.”

Gray began working for Recreational Sports two and a half years ago and said she does not see accidents on a regular basis.

The most common accidents occur when people try to lift too much weight, think they can run faster or longer than they can, do not eat all day beforehand or are new to working out, Gray said.

“Accidents happen when people aren’t following policy or aren’t using the equipment right,” senior Claudia Burns, a Recreational Sports employee, said. “We had a guy crush his toe while using the bench once. It looked really awful. He was wearing
loafers.”

Junior Cameron Davis, a Recreational Sports employee, said people often have accidents when they do not clip their weights while using the bench.

One person who did not use clips put five plates on each side of a squat rack, he said. The student fell backwards and dropped all the weights to the floor.

“The weirdest thing I’ve ever seen was two big guys come in with a girl dressed in all black,” Davis said. “The girl had a ring on the front of her neck. One of the guys took the cable from the cable machine and attached it to the ring on her neck. The girl got on the shoulders of the bigger guy and he used her as a weight to do crunches. That never came up in training.”

Susie Mahoney, assistant director of informal sports and equipment operations for Recreational Sports, said peoples’ pants have fallen down while running on the treadmill because they are too loose or because they get stuck in the machine.

Junior Drew Simmonds, who works mostly by the basketball court at HPER, said he has not seen many accidents.

However, during freshman orientation this year, a student playing basketball blocked a pass, hitting another student in the face and breaking his nose.

For the number of people that utilize equipment at HPER and the SRSC, Burns said there are a low number of incidents.

“They happen more so at the beginning of the year or right before spring break,” junior Matt Wallpe, a Recreational Sports employee, said.

Staff members are certified in first aid and CPR, she said, but for more serious injuries, people involved in the accidents have to visit their doctors.

“Serious accidents are not common,” Simmonds said. “It’s more petty things.”