Last year, construction started on Albion’s fields, beginning with the resurfacing of the indoor track from an old blue surface into a newer, purple one. Since last spring, piles of dirt have taken over the soccer and lacrosse fields behind the Dow Recreation and Wellness Center, which are soon going to transform into nicer fields with artificial turf.
While much of Albion’s athletic fields are going through renovation, the possibility of updates to some of the other facilities are still left in question. Albion’s sports teams constantly use the outdoor and indoor fields, either during practice or games, but they also consistently use other facilities too. These facilities include the cardio room, the swimming pool and the weight room in both the Dow and Kresge Gym.
Many teams use the weight room, such as football, baseball, softball, track and others. Other teams make use of other facilities; for example, the women’s volleyball team also takes advantage of Kresge Gymnasium’s weight room.
While some do agree that the Dow’s weight room is past due for an update, volleyball player Darian Elson, a Macomb sophomore, instead said, “Kresge needs an update. All the weights and machines are old and corroded.”
However, Elson enjoys the Dow’s weight room, saying, “The Dow weight room is one of the best rooms I have been in. It has a lot of machines that I like to use and, depending on the day, is sometimes easy to use.”
Tennis player Josh Mcgarry, a Macomb sophomore, agrees.
“I like that Albion’s weight room has a decent selection of machines and free weights to use,” said Mcgarry. “Also, it is generally fairly clean compared to some I have seen.”
However there are some setbacks to the Dow’s weight room, like the over-crowdedness and the aging machines.
“There have been a couple machines that have been broken down for quite a long period of time,” said Mcgarry.
As a member of the cross country team myself, I believe that while there are some pretty old machines in the Dow and that some are rusted, it’s Kresge’s weight room that definitely needs some attention too. The Dow’s weight room might get too overcrowded, and a replacement of the old with updated equipment would be a plus. But Kresge’s is even smaller with less equipment.
“It basically has only a couple bench presses and squat bars,” said Elson.
However, not everyone is allowed access to Kresge’s weight room while the Dow’s weight room is open to all athletes plus non-athletes. So, even though the room in Kresge is very neglected, extra attention should be focused on the Dow because it is more open to the public.
With so many changes occurring on campus, especially to the athletic department, I am bummed that some of the other facilities have not been touched. For instance some of the machines in the Dow are rusted and don’t work as well as they used to. Also, when it gets crowded with teams vying for all of the weights, there’s not enough dumbbells or free weights for everyone. Yet with these new updated fields for Albion’s sports, the on-going construction is definitely an added plus and great addition for all the athletic students on campus.
Photo by Taylor Anhalt
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