The Texas A&M Student Rec Center is offering fun and creative ways to stay active while staying home.
A&M has gone fully online with classes and resources, with the Student Recreation Center following suit. Each department is creating new ways to get the Aggie Community active and to focus on their wellbeing during the shelter-in-place.
The social media pages for the Rec are working to inform students and faculty about the different opportunities to stay involved with the Rec, Communication Manager Kelly Vondrehle said.
“We’re really trying to transition a lot of things that Texas A&M Rec Sports is doing to online options so people can feel like they can still get the experience from their home,” Vondrehle said.
Fitness & Wellness will be hosting multiple weekly Zoom workout classes that are free to all students and faculty. A majority of the classes featured online are similar to those that were offered at the Rec, with the exception of cycling, Fitness Director Anna Taggart said.
“We wanted them to be as inclusive as possible so our instructors are great about providing options in regards to equipment [needed],” Taggart said.
The schedule for these classes can be found at recsports.tamu.edu. Each participant must put in their Net ID and password before being able to join the class, Taggart said. The recording of these classes will also be uploaded online and shared through their social media, Vondrehle said.
“We’re going to be releasing those [videos] every Friday,” Vondrehle said. “Hopefully people can get those classes that they missed, but still get that workout in.”
There is also a chance for students to show their competitiveness with Intramural Sports. Assistant Director of Intramural Sports Nick Heiar said his team had to think outside the box when it came to creating activities that students can do safely from their homes.
“Everything we traditionally have done just doesn’t work in this context and environment,” Heiar said. “I think this was a prime opportunity for us to show our creativity and diversity in what we can offer.”
Intramural Sports has started competitions for E-Sports like FIFA, MADDEN NFL and NBA 2K. There are also quiz-battles, a trick-shot competition and a running challenge called Running Aggie. Students interested in participating in any competition can sign up on imleagues.com. Each winner of these competitions will win an Intramural Champion shirt, Heiar said.
“Some of these other [competitions like] the E-Sports, there’s not a whole lot of physicality to that but there is a social component and the mental health component that’s being benefited by participating,” Heiar said.
Outdoor and Adventure as well as Strength and Conditioning are also working on creating ways to transition what they can offer online.
Being stuck in a home environment can be challenging and the current situation can cause lots of stress and anxiety for the Aggie community, Taggart said.
“We want to give our students, faculty, staff and community some sort of normalcy,” Taggart said. “If they’ve been continuing a schedule or they have a routine, we want to be able to continue to provide them that.”