Texas A&M’s grand opening for the long awaited new Southside Recreation Center located by The Commons took place from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 26. The event was kicked off with several speeches and followed by a ribbon cutting by student body president Case Harris.

Starting his 44th year at A&M, Rick Hall, director of recreational sports, said because A&M is one of the largest schools in the country,  it should have the most recreational centers. This new facility hopes to help with the overcrowding in the other Recs on campus. 

“The Rec center was very crowded from about 5 p.m. to 11 [p.m.] for people in the strength and conditioning room, the basketball courts, etc.,” Hall said. “This is important because it gives us another 100,000 square feet of recreational facilities.”

The opening of a new Rec was great news for students like engineering freshman Shikhar Rai who said it was only going to be a 10 minute walk for him. 

“I live off campus, and this is going to be the closest Rec to me,” Rai said. “I’m just really excited.”
With the Student Rec Center and Polo Road Rec, Hall said it could be a scary experience for students walking at night. Engineering freshman Arnav Gangur said this new facility is closer to where he lives on campus. 
“I had to bike to Polo [Road Rec] one day which is like a 10 to 15 minute bike ride, so this is really close and it’s great,” Gangur said. “I did remember seeing something about a callisthenic class at the Rec-a-palooza, so I might attend one of those to check it out.”
The number of student services clientele who struggle with stress is on the rise, Hall said and exercise can be a potential solution. Hall said that the construction of this facility fits into the A&M Core Values and into the value of wellness.
“I think it’s very important that we made the commitment that we were going to take recreational sports more to the students and to the community,” Hall said.