What do you get when you try to fit 5,000 Dartmouth students, faculty and community members into a single, 3,500-square-foot room? Yes, the Kresge Fitness Center in its overcrowded splendor.
Located in the relatively new Berry Sports Center, the Kresge Fitness Room is host to thousands of faculty, students, student-athletes and members of the Upper Valley community throughout the year. Yet many of its patrons have numerous complaints about the room which is the only weight room on campus open to varsity and "recreational" athletes alike.
The weight room is overseen by the College's recently-hired Director of Strength and Conditioning, Jay Butler. Butler, with the help of assistant Jane Taylor, is responsible for the strength training and power development of all the athletes who participate in the 34 varsity sports offered at the College. Yet on top of individual training, Butler also sees to it that the Kresge Center and the various other weight rooms are run smoothly and safely.
In working with athletes, Butler said his primary goal is to "teach ... and to develop each athlete's performance in their particular sport, and second, to prevent injury." He added that while collegiate athletes across the nation are on a par with each other, one place to gain an advantage is through strength training.
The problem that has arisen, however, is how to fill the needs of the recreational athlete as well as the varsity athlete. The Fitness Center has only two StairMasters and "one good bike," according to Butler. This, he said, is due to a lack of funding and space restrictions.
"We have a budget of $5,000" per year for new machines, he said. His entire budget comes from the sale of passes for the Fitness Center to members of the community. "We don't get anything from students' tuition."
According to Butler, one nice leg-press machine can cost more than $5,000. LifeCycles and StairMasters cost between $2,500 and $5,000. "Our hands are tied," Taylor said.
With such limited facilities, Butler has found it difficult to satisfy everyone's needs.
"There are needs for students and athletes as well," Butler said. Taylor added, "Trying to train athletes with commotion around is hard. With classes in the morning, athletes have to train in the afternoon when everyone wants to use [the facilities]," she said. She said it is hard "trying to coach and be a traffic cop" at the same time.
The Nautilus machines in Kresge are open almost 70 hours each week. The free weights are open close to six hours each day, and are reserved at certain times for varsity teams. On top of these hours, there are separate weight rooms for the track team and the football team, and two old squash courts in Alumni Gym have been converted into the "leverage" weight room which is reserved for sports teams.
Yet many students are not satisfied with these hours.
"I heard girls complaining about how there was only one StairMaster and you had to reserve it," Lauren Hirshfield '97 said. She also said the facility needs a treadmill. "I couldn't help but think that with an athlete population as large as Dartmouth has, our weight room should be expanded," she said.
John Will '99 shared the same feeling. A varsity athlete in high school, Will is "still big on trail running, rock climbing, skiing, kayaking, and mountain biking." He said that he finds "the quality of the weight room to be below par ... the hours that the weight room is available to all students should be extended and made earlier." He added that "a lot of the machines are outdated and awkward, and the weight room seems always to be a little too crowded." He said he does enjoy the newer machines in the room.
Even though the varsity teams benefit from having certain weight rooms reserved for them during some hours, it seems recreational athletes are not the only ones complaining that the facilities are "too small" and that "the hours are awful."
"It's almost ludicrous sometimes how Division I athletes have to compete with recreational lifters," lacrosse player Andrew Dance '99 said. "Right now the trainers are personable and do give individual attention, but it's not a spacious [facility]."
Kristen Scopaz '00, a member of the field hockey team, said "the strength coach is really good, but there are a couple of machines that would be good to have." She added that Dartmouth's facilities are considerably smaller than those she has seen at other colleges and universities.
The lack of facilities forces some teams to improvise. Dan Gestwick '99 said he has used the leverage room during practice for lightweight rowing.
"It is not anything special, but it contains adequate equipment to serve as a team workout room." He added that since hours to the leverage room are limited, "I have had a great deal of experience with the college's vast collection of 'can weights'."
Butler and Taylor agreed for the most part with students' opinions. "We'd like to make everyone happy," Taylor said, "but the bottom line is we're as frustrated as the students are. We have to make the athletes our number one priority."
"I can see no resolution soon, unless we build a whole new facility," Taylor said.
