New athletic centre will be open to everyone in the fall of 2016
A few years back, the University of Guelph announced its plans to build a new athletic centre. Finally, that plan has become a reality as the new Guelph Gryphon athletic centre is on track to open in September 2016. The goal of the new centre is to inspire students and student-athletes alike to stay active.
The new athletic centre will cater to all students—not just varsity athletes—and will have a focus on encouraging students to be active. The centre will also be more accessible to the greater community.
The plan is that once a higher funding goal has been reached, the Mitchell centre will be renovated to encompass a high-performance centre for varsity athletes.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…to inspire students and student-athletes alike to stay active.[/pullquote]
Some of the new features included in the new athletic center are 25,000 square feet of fitness centre space, a brand new rock-climbing wall and a walking track that will overlook the main gym.
“We know that there is a need for social space on campus, so there’s lots of social space built in. Even just bigger hallways, benches, and there’s a student lounge” said assistant director of athletics Sarah Mau. “The varsity men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams will play in the new event centre. But from a student perspective it’s going to be available for concerts for CSA, convocation, and more spectator seating so this is definitely a building for all students.”
Another one of the many thrilling new features, will be a universal change room. This change room will be open to anyone who feels more comfortable using it than a gendered change room. Transgender students and parents with young kids who are deemed to old to go in the change room with them will be targeted for this room. It will have individual changing spaces within it.
“It’s something that seems so simple, but we haven’t had” said Mau. “We’ve noticed a gap in our service ability for that, so a universal change room will make a big difference to a lot of people.”
The new athletic centre will be focused on a logical, simplistic and modern design. The goal is that it will be easy to situate yourself to find things such as fitness classes in the new building.
“We would hear from students that they went to the athletic centre once and never went back, because they got lost or couldn’t find the change room. So that is some inspiration into the logic of the building and the simplicity and the way-finding” said Mau. “we want people to feel welcome when they come in, not that they have to hunt for anything.”
The new Gryphon Athletic Centre which is being built on east ring road, will be connected to the current W.F. Mitchell Centre. Mau envisions that the Mitchell Centre will be referred to as the Mitchell wing. The Mitchell wing will be connected to the new centre via where the rock climbing wall currently is, which is being replaced by a brand new wall in the lobby area of the Guelph Gryphon Athletic Centre.
The two-storey, 25,000 square feet of fitness centre space will be key for encouraging students to stay active.
“We are essentially quadrupling our fitness centre space. So there will be no more signing up for equipment, no more time limits on equipment” said Mau.
Some of the equipment coming to the new athletic centre will also include exciting new technology. This technology will be present on some cardio machines, allowing students to check Facebook or watch a YouTube video. Students could even watch a video that makes it seem like they are running down a trail course of their choosing.
This new centre will continue to help grow relationship that the University already has with the greater Guelph community.
“Our partnership with our junior Gryphon programs, that’s become really important to Gryphon athletics over the last number of years” said Mau. “We really want to welcome community members, especially children and their parents, to come in to understand how being a spectator of a sport or being involved in a sport can have a real impact on your leisure time, your physical health and your social health.”
More sneak peeks are coming soon, including, but not limited to, invigorating new membership policies and bubble soccer.