By Brandon Davis
A common dilemma many students face when beginning their college careers out of high school is figuring out how to stay in shape while adjusting to a new schedule.
The Student Activities Center’s fitness center offers a variety of different activities to help keep students in shape, including an accessible weight room stocked with treadmills, free and machine weight systems and other cardiovascular equipment.
“In the Louisville Metropolitan area, this [SAC] is one of the best facilities around,” Ken Carey, gym employee, said. “The vast array of equipment and stuff that this facility has here along with the facilities at the Crawford and Humana, it can’t be beat.”
The SAC is open weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and is free with an active student ID.
The SAC fitness center also provides five racquetball courts, two squash courts and complete locker room facilities along with four multi-purpose gym floors which are used for basketball, volleyball and badminton.
“It offers pretty much everything you want,” Greg Welsh, junior nursing major, said. “They have a gym, basketball courts, racquetball and they’re always open when you need them to be so it’s pretty convenient.”
For those looking to keep themselves occupied in some competitive form or just looking for a way to blow off some steam without all the sweat, the Cardinal Corner might be the answer. Also located in the SAC, the Cardinal Corner provides an assortment of free games for students to compete in, including pool, ping-pong, air hockey and foosball.
The Ralph Wright Natatorium, located on the corner of Warnock Ave. and Floyd St., is one for the newest facilities on campus and allows students a chance to swim in an Olympic-size pool. The Natatorium is also home to the U of L’s men’s and women’s swim teams and is complete with an eight-lane, 50 meter competition pool with depth ranging from four feet, six inches to 18 feet.
“It’s really a great facility,” Matt Blanford, graduate student and lifeguard, said. “It’s brand new and I think students are surprised when they find out that it’s even here and they’re allowed to use it for free.”
The Natatorium is open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and is also open at various times on weekends.
The Humana Gym is another facility available for students looking to work out. Located on Bradley Ave. and Eastern Pkwy., the Humana Gym offers complete weight and cardiovascular rooms, dry heat saunas and gym floors are available when not used for club practices. Free for students, the Humana Gym is open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
U of L also offers a variety of different sports clubs and intramural league sports which provide students looking for a more structured plan to help maintain a healthy lifestyle, a solid solution while satisfying their competitive juices.
With clubs like badminton, fencing, gymnastics and many others, students are given the opportunity to compete while receiving a chance to learn a new sport or continuing to play a familiar one. There are also many different intramural league sports students can play including football, basketball, and soccer.
When posed with the above question, some students may believe that determination and effort alone should merit an "A."
However, many professors shake their heads at this notion, knowing that in order to obtain such a high mark, students have to do more than just show up to class.
The University of Louisville's Department of Health and Sport Sciences is designed to prepare its students to be leaders in all areas of sports management.
But are students in the program really getting the chance to prove themselves as leaders?
When it comes to management training, what could be more beneficial than actual hands-on experience?
For Chris Prentice, gambling has become too comfortable and familiar to exhilarate him in quite the same way as it once did.
"I used to [get excited gambling], but now it's become second nature to me," said Prentice, a senior communication major. "It's like riding a bike: a rush at first but old habit after a while."
I am the author of the book, Honest Patriots, which on March 5 received the Grawemeyer award in religion for 2009. Darren McVey's column of that week in your campus newspaper is proof that he read at least some of the book. In some respects, he read it carefully. In some other respects, he did not read it at all.
For Chris Prentice, gambling has become too comfortable and familiar to exhilarate him in quite the same way as it once did.
"I used to [get excited gambling], but now it's become second nature to me," said Prentice, a senior communication major. "It's like riding a bike: a rush at first but old habit after a while."
Last week I went on a joyride.
On March 26, the Student Activities Boards, in cooperation with Universal Pictures, held a special pre-showing of the newest "Fast and the Furious" movie at the Baxter Avenue Theatre on Bardstown road.
In 2008, girls across the University of Louisville's campus were given an opportunity for the first time in 40 years to participate in the Miss U of L pageant. The winner of this preliminary contest goes on to compete to represent our state as Miss Kentucky, and eventually Miss America.
During these tough economic times, it seems easy to focus on what we don't have; a local campus group however, has decided instead to focus on what it could give.
Earlier this year, the University of Louisville's chapter of the Golden Key Society turned a community service project into a generous donation for those less fortunate.
"One of the missions of Golden Key is to involve members into two big literacy projects a year," said James Lee, a U of L grad student and co-president of Golden Key. "For the past several years, Golden Key has paired up with [Family Scholar House] to run a book drive."
While efforts have been made to increase the variety of food options on the University of Louisville campus in the past year, it is clear that a nutritional deficit still persists within these expanded food options.
New restaurant options like "Freshens" and "Jazzman's" may offer some healthier options, but fast food still has a much larger presence on campus. "Quick Zone" may carry salads, but by Sunday afternoon there are only a handful left, and these are no longer fresh.
As students and faculty alike flock to the Student Activities Center for lunch, Greg Wilburn stands in the center of the commotion atop a stool, preaching a message. This is his story.
