By Tierney Werner
Unigo Campus Rep at UCSC
UCSC is not dubbed the “city on a hill” for no reasons. One of the most noticeable about the university is the amount of hills there are around campus. My residential advisor once said to me freshman year, “At UCSC, you don’t gain the freshman fifteen, you lose it.” With such a beautiful campus and outdoorsy culture, it is easy to see why students prefer hiking around campus instead of the workout facilities at UCSC to get their workout. Although the latter is definitely less popular, plenty of students who had opinions about the Office Of Physical Education, Recreation and Sports (OPERS) facilities on campus.
This main UCSC fitness center is located at the East field, which is pretty central and easy to get to on UCSC’s very spread-out campus. In addition to the standard workout facilities at UCSC, The East field facilities houses a dance room where a private pianist plays while students study ballet, a scenic jogging track and martial arts studio where Yoga and Tai Chi are held. It also has a multi-purpose room, six outdoor basketball courts, six racquetball and squash courts, two sand volleyball courts, six tennis courts that are lit at night and a fifty meter swimming pool. Impressive right? That is not including the West Field House, located at College Eight, which has two basketball/volleyball courts and a weight room.
Many students are very opinionated about the OPERS program. Chelsea, a sophomore who has taken ballet for the past year said, “I love the sports facilities at UCSC. They offer so many p.e. classes that are super easy to fit into your schedule and worth going too.” On the other hand, Olivia, a marathon runner, disagrees. “The UCSC fitness center is horribly crowded. They close down the first floor during the day for the weight training classes and the upstairs can only accommodate so many people. They have also started to close at ten which is a total buzz kill if you don’t get out of class until late, or live off campus.” All in all, the sports facilities seemed to be satisfactory among UCSC students, and although sports are not the most popular past time at UCSC, it is worth checking out the East field, if only for the view!