After being closed for some time, Bourgeois Hall has reopened with various protocols due to COVID-19.
Assistant Director of Intramural and Club Sports for Bourgeois Hall David Jamie spoke on what those protocols look like.
For starters, the recreational center closed down certain areas of the facility such as the basketball and racquetball courts.
“We’ve left open the facilities which we can ensure social distancing and the proper use of all personal protective equipment,” said Jamie.
For the facilities that are still open such as the fitness center, the university has added sanitation stations. Visitors at the recreation center are encouraged to clean their workout areas before and after use. Jamie described what steps the staff has been taking to keep areas clean.
“Each day from 1 to 2 p.m., we shut down the entire facility so that our staff can perform a deep clean of the fitness center, aquatic center and any other area we have open for university use,” Jamie said. “We also perform that exact same deep clean from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. every night as well.”
The aquatic center has been transformed to an extent.
“We have socially distanced every single chair, updated our locker rooms again to contain sanitation stations and only allow the reservation of lockers that we can enforce the social distancing,” said Jamie. Community showers have also been closed.
Making these changes is one thing, but enforcing them is another. Thankfully, the staff is prepared, according to Jamie.
“We completely revamped our staffing expectations and procedures. We developed a new training to make sure that all of our student employees are aware of these modifications and capable of enforcing these changes,” Jamie said.
According to Jamie, the hardest part about making these changes has been getting the whole staff on the same page and making sure the student employees stay more vigilant with these new protocols.
For students still hesitant about coming to Bourgeois, Jamie had several suggestions.
“We’re never going to suggest that you come here during popular hours when a lot of students are going to be here. Feel free to call us and ask us when might be a better time to utilize our services and facilities here,” Jamie said.
The peak hours are in the afternoon and early evening times.
“We’ve been doing some data tracking of our peak usage times, so we have a fairly good idea of when a great time frame is to join us.”
Last semester, when COVID-19 first became an issue, Bourgeois offered esports.
“It wasn’t as big of a success as we would have liked, but that also goes with what was happening at that time,” Jamie said.
In the coming weeks, they will add new esport options.
“We encourage students that participated last time, that are looking to get involved this time to check out those offerings through our IMLeagues page.” Some of those offerings include Call of Duty, Fifa and NBA 2K.
With all these changes, thankfully some intramural and club sports are available.
“Nearly all of our club sports are still operating this semester, but none of them will be competing in any seasons or organizations this fall semester as those associations have either canceled or postponed all fall competitions, but they are still getting together as groups.”
Any club sports wanting to use Bourgeois facilities must complete a return to campus worksheet. “For intramural sports, we have our schedule published already.” Softball, beach volleyball and dodgeball are some offerings.