Purdue News

August 7, 1998 Gym renamed to reflect expanding services WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue University's Recreational Gymnasium has a new name -- Recreational Sports Center -- to better represent the services available to students, faculty, staff and visitors. "The name better reflects the wide diversity of recreational opportunities we provide," said Carol Stickel, director of the Division of Recreational Sports. "When the facility was built in the 1950s, the needs revolved around mostly team sports, such as basketball and volleyball," Stickel said. "Since then, aerobics has blossomed, fitness is a way of life for both men and women, and our volume has grown to over one million visits to the facility per year." The facility is the home to a wide variety of sports facilities and programs and is a place where everyone from the university community is welcome to come and recreate, Stickel said. She said the name change also coincides with planned renovation of the building and the planned construction of a new aquatics center. The aquatics center is part of a $23 million project that is a cooperative venture among Intercollegiate Athletics, the Department of Health, Kinesiology and Leisure Studies, and the Division of Recreational Sports. The $15 million aquatics center will connect via a corridor to the Recreational Sports Center, which will undergo about $7 million in renovation. The aquatics project will be funded with donations, and three-quarters of the money has been pledged by private donors. Purdue will seek bonding authority from the Indiana General Assembly to pay for $5 million of the work on the Recreational Sports Center, and $2 million will be provided from accumulated reserve for renewals. The new aquatics center will be built behind the Recreational Sports Center on land that is currently occupied by an outdoor pool and diving well, three tennis courts and two basketball courts. The new aquatics center will replace the 40-year-old indoor and outdoor pools at the Recreational Sports Center and the 60-year-old pool at Lambert Fieldhouse. The plans call for a new Olympic-size pool with eight 50-meter lanes and a diving well with two one-meter and two three-meter boards and a tower with three diving platforms. The center will be home to the men's and women's swim teams and also will be open to users and guests of the Recreational Sports Center. Stickel said planned changes to the Recreational Sports Center include a variety of maintenance and mechanical system upgrades, a 17,000-square-foot cardiovascular and fitness training center on the basement level as well as a new aerobics studio. Completion of the total project is expected by fall 2001. CONTACT: Stickel, (765) 494-3113 Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page