Some of my dad’s favorites stories he tells about his “college days” were the times he spent playing intramural sports: wiffle ball at two o’clock in the morning, mud volleyball, kickball; you name it, they played it. So one of the things I really looked forward to about going to college was the chance to play intramurals and join student clubs. It sounded like a lot of fun, and I knew it would be a great way to meet people.
Early in my first quarter at RWC, I went into the Student Life Office to ask about student clubs and to find out if there was an intramural program (I knew we didn’t have a gym, but I knew the rec center was just down the street). They gave me a list of nine clubs: basically, one for vet techs, a couple for brains, and a few for future politicians. I was definitely not any of these, so nothing really jumped out at me.
But I was most disappointed about the sports: there were none. I was told that I could start a team if I wanted, and in the past, RWC had coordinated a sort of discount with the nearby Blue Ash Rec Center.
But this was kind of daunting-it was only the first quarter of my first year; I did want to meet people, but recruiting strangers wasn’t really what I had in mind!
I understand it’s a little hard to have an intramural program without a rec center. Okay, it’s probably really hard. But honestly, I think if we just had a gym on campus, we wouldn’t really need an intramural program right away. Just having a rec center where students can hang out-instead of the tiny student lounge in the back of Muntz Hall, or the uneven outdoor basketball court (with no balls.)-would be a great addition to RWC.
Right now, most students just go to class and then leave; there’s not really any “community” here, as one of my friends put it, and I agree.
I know RWC is not a residential campus, so I’m not asking for a state of the art architectural masterpiece like they have down at main campus. But the other campus, over in Clermont, is not live-in either, and they have a gym and sports leagues. Actually, Raymond Walters is even bigger than Clermont.
So where is our rec center?