It’s one of Canada’s largest recreation facilities – and it belongs to Western.
The Western Student Recreation Centre offers students more than three times the recreation space than in the past, with the $35-million centre that includes five gyms, eight-lane pool, squash courts and much more.
The new Western Student Recreation Centre, which opened in January, was long overdue, says Gareth Cunningham, manager of Campus Recreation.
But now that construction is complete, waves of students are enjoying the 160,000-square-foot building.
“It’s fantastic. It was a long process to get to opening the doors (and now) the use has increased,” Cunningham says. “It’s busy throughout the day and into the evening it’s hopping.”
After a few months, the $35-million centre had already seen about 60 per cent of the student population come through its doors, he adds.
“It was a badly needed facility for a university that wanted to be active,” says Cunningham. “No question, most of our programs were busting at the seams. This allows us an opportunity to grow into that demand.”
For years, Western fell short in Macleans’ magazine’s annual student rankings for its athletic facilities, while excelling in its recreational programs.
Western’s Campus Recreation already has one of the largest intramural sports programs in Canada, with about 1,300 sports teams and 13,000 participants. And now it has a facility to match.
Hopefully, the new recreation centre on campus will be a “showpiece facility” that will encourage healthy living and attract prospective students, Cunningham says.
The facility features five gymnasiums (three hardwood and two rubber-floored), an eight-lane, 50-metre swimming pool, five international-size squash courts, three multipurpose studio rooms, a 20,000-square-foot fitness centre for cardio and weights, and lots of general space for lounging, meeting areas and socializing.
It’s built south of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Health Sciences Building and attached to the Thompson Recreation and Athletic Centre.
In comparison, the old recreation space located in the University Community Centre was only 50,000 square feet.
Half of this old space is being turned into academic spaces by the university. The University Students’ Council (USC) will use the other half.
Students were the largest donor group for the Western Student Recreation Centre, which took its name to honour their financial contribution. The USC committed $86.2 million during the next 30 years toward the construction, mortgage and operating costs of the new centre.
“Students were fundamental in this process right from the get-go. (We) needed the student interest and support to even have the plans off the ground,” Cunningham says.
Along with the new facility and equipment, Campus Recreation also offers a variety of activities, such as fitness and dance classes, personal training, instruction in aquatics, coaching and racquet-sports. It also has such intramural sports as slo-pitch, soccer, ice hockey, ultimate Frisbee, dodge ball, beach volleyball and inner-tube water polo.
Campus Recreation also employs about 300 student staff positions.
And the facility is only set to grow, Cunningham says.
“I think seeing the usage that we’re getting, it was a long overdue addition to the Western community and students are making full use out of it.”
For more information on the Western Student Recreation Centre, including hours of operation, visit: campusrec.uwo.ca.