Campus members at North Humber college are voicing concerns for limited sports amenities as numerous studies indicate low physical health among early adults.
There’s nothing better than finishing off a day of classes, meeting up with your friends and keeping active with some drop-in sports. While that option is available during the day at Humber North Campus, it lacks a wide range of sports and gym availability as the evening approaches.
Emphasis on fitness and staying active has grown as time goes with 81 per cent of adolescents and 27.5 per cent of adults currently do not meet the World Health Organization’s recommended physical activity levels. A lack of resources for those looking to be casually active at Humber North won’t provide aid in these statistics.
Despite courseloads mimicking a ‘9-5’ style keep students busy; people are coming up short on their fitness goals with a lack of opportunity for sports participation past dinner time.
“I’m in labs until late afternoon five days a week, I always miss out on opportunities for drop-in sports because of the lack of evening sessions”, says Zander Peloquin, a third-year kinesiology student at Guelph-Humber.
Other post-secondary institutions such as Guelph University offer drop-in sports into the night with some running weekly until 11:30 P.M. In addition, Humber’s Lakeshore campus has drop-in sports and open gym hours into the night as well. With other institutions providing the service, including one of the school’s own, the question needs to be asked: Why does Humber North not offer drop-in sports in the evening and into the night?
“I’ve had multiple different families inquire about life on campus throughout my touring,” Says Tanner Griffiths, a tour guide for the University of Guelph-Humber, adding: “I’ve already been asked multiple times about drop-in sports, specifically inquiring about its availability regarding potential later classes”.
In fact, studies show only 9.9 per cent of students (females 10.4 per cent; males 9.2 per cent) were currently achieving four components of the 24-hour movement guidelines according to the government of Canada. The 24-hour movement guidelines are a recommendation of several hours of light physical activity each day, 150 minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) including muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week.
“It’s definitely disappointing the lack of sports made available on campus. I take my health very seriously with my program. My schedule lines up with no time to attend any drop-in sports sessions. The gym is open late, so why aren’t any sports times?” Peloquin says.
Lack of physical activity affects people, especially as they get out of their adolescent years. Effects can include obesity and heart conditions including coronary artery disease heart attacks, and high blood pressure.
After a study done by the University of California, Psychology Today claims that young adults who exercise regularly are more likely to seek physical activity and fitness throughout their lifespan. A lack of drop-in sports in the evenings at Humber North may be getting in the way.
“I love basketball, played in high school. I still love to play, I unfortunately didn’t make Humber’s extramural basketball team, and with my schedule, it’s hard to make the drop-in and open gym times where I could play. It’s not like I can play basketball in an open field.” shares Grittiths.
Lack of availability for drop-in sports later into the night stems from the North Campus being a mainstay for Varsity athletes. The scheduling and availability are a struggle for schools to work through.
“A problem with consistency at the North Campus is that a lot of the varsity programs run out of this campus so there’s less opportunity for drop-ins and open gyms in the evening hours so we moved ours to the afternoon. So we do have drop-ins, just earlier in the day usually before 4 pm”, says Jennifer O’Reilly, Humber North’s Recreation and Sport Coordinator.
Along with drop-in sports, there are also open gym times where there is no specific sport set up, rather people can grab any equipment they’d like and use it in the gym when it’s free. The problem with open gym times? They are only ever posted at Humber’s gym office themselves, making it difficult for students to know when this kind of service is available.
“The open gym isn’t advertised because it changes so often. Sometimes someone will swoop in and book a gym if they see it’s empty, or they’ll release a gym time, and we’re not necessarily notified about it. So, the open gym times is just when nothing’s scheduled in the gym. Usually, it’s open for basketball, badminton and volleyball. Those can sometimes be later into the evening until we close”, said O’Reilly.
When asked if she thought students would benefit from more consistent casual gym times O’Reilly said; “Humans are creatures of habit, right? Consistency is always a key you know, play soccer on Wednesdays, somebody gets into the routine of playing soccer Wednesdays. As soon as soccer is on a Tuesday, they go UGH! Consistency is always better. But on the flip side, there’s a big opportunity to take part in drop-in sports at both campuses at any time of the day”.
She goes on to add about the availability and access to evening drop-in sports being open to campus members; “The Lakeshore campus has a little bit more flexibility in their time for drop-ins because they don’t have as many varsity practices or rentals in their gym. They do have consistent days and times for their sports usually a little longer of an opportunity of play.”
At this time there are no services provided regarding transportation. However, students looking to participate in drop-in sports are responsible for their own participation between campuses.
While the struggle for consistency in casual sports continues at North campus, drop-in evening activities are available throughout the week at Lakeshore.
On Humber North Rec’s Instagram page, however, they’ve provided infographics on travelling between the two campuses and the different gym facilities.
