Bradley’s Markin Family Student Recreation Center has gone through many changes in the last year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Many activities such as intramural sports, club sports, and working out have been heavily impacted by the pandemic.
When entering Markin, one of the first things attendants will notice is the signs posted on every entrance and exit requiring guests to wear a face covering at all times. Secondly, there are arrows to indicate what way to walk in order to maintain social distancing. Check out this link to see the Student Life Requirements.
Only one attendant is allowed at a time when at the front desk
Even working at Markin, there has been a lot of change over the past two semesters. Nate Dluzak, a Markin employee and junior Actuarial Science major, explained the new rules for employees.
“Obviously we all have to wear masks and maintain social distancing. But what is different is that we (the employees) are set to a 30 minute rotation throughout our four hour shifts.” Dluzak continued, “The rotation consists of us moving to a different location to work and sanitizing most areas.”
He went on to say how it was different as compared to other years. Due to the fact that there are two additional workers, however, the employees can’t necessarily socialize with each other because they have to monitor their assigned stations in order to maintain safety protocols. Meaning if an attendant isn’t cooperating with rules and regulations, they must attend and take care of the problem.
“It is a little different this semester than last semester for sure,” said Dluzak when asked about the differences he’s seen from semester to semester. “We would have a lot of questions asked last semester by students on what they can and can’t do. This semester, there hasn’t been as many questions as they know the rules by now. There are sometimes those one or two people you have to stare down because they aren’t abiding by the rules.”
Along with many rules at Markin with the employees and students, there are also rules that involve student use when it comes to lifting weights, playing sports on the courts, and other activities.
In a normal year, many students would be playing pickup basketball games, sometimes all three courts would be filled with over 30+ students. Now, each court is only allowed between one to three students per court. If you are alone on the court, you are allowed to shoot around without a mask. However, if more than one person is on the same court at the same time, each student must wear a mask and have their own ball. No games are allowed.
Along with basketball, many other sports such as soccer, volleyball, and racquetball aren’t allowed. Other activities such as dancing, wrestling, and other contact sports aren’t allowed. Those activities are oftentimes found down stairs inside Markin. Rock climbing is still available for students.
When it comes to lifting weights, many machines have been marked off with yellow tape or spaced out to abide with the health and safety protocols. Students are also asked to sanitize the equipment before and after using it.
Joey Isdonas, a Markin employee and advent weightlifter, gave his insight on the new rules.
“It is a little different this year compared to last year. I would be able to go from station to station with no worries, now I have to wait for somebody to be done or I have to do more body weight because there are less machines,” said Isdonas.
He also mentioned that there are new rules this semester that weren’t available this semester. For example, previously, students had to wear a mask at all times. Now students can pull down their mask if they are at the station or taking a slight break. For a list of all the rules at Markin, visit Campus Recreation Rules.
Pictured is Cory and Josh both with their masks down after completing their squat set.
Masks were immediately put on after their break.
Another massive impact that has hit Bradley and the students pretty hard has been the decrease in intramural sports. Many intramurals throughout the fall semester have been virtual gaming or social distanced games like bags/corn hole and rock-paper-scissors. However, towards the end of the spring semester, there has been four-on-four flag football and slow pitch softball games.
Two members participating in the Rock-Paper-Scissors intramural game
There has also been an increase in referees needed for these sports. Trevor Mahood, a senior referee, decided to step up and help out with the amount of games played towards the end of the semester.
“It’s fun to get back out on the field and play these games we’ve been craving for over a year now,” said Mahood. “Being a referee is fun too because I get to watch many games and see the competitiveness many of these students have.”
He also added, “It is nice to have something to look forward to during the week. Not having a Spring Break sucks, but when getting outside to play sports is an exciting time because it feels a bit normal for once.”
All intramural sports require a mask at all times. Next year, there are hopes to bring back more intramural sports, along with, keeping some of the ones that were experimented with over the last two semesters such as a homerun derby, basketball 21, and others. The calendar for this year’s schedule was action packed with something happening everyday.
Members from Delta Upsilon after the homerun derby
With all the changes that have happened through the past two semesters, there is optimism for Markin and intramural sports to get back to normal soon. Expect rules and regulations for the upcoming semester to be posted sometime in August before the new school year begins.