For the last year, the doors of the weight-room at San Jose City college have been open to people enrolled in weight training classes and athletes looking to bulk up or shed unwanted pounds, leaving everyday students weak and cold.
Open Gym, which was free and available to all students, ended a year ago because of over-crowding, people socializing instead of working out and mistreatment of the weights, (not re-racking them, throwing them down) said Chris Chiodo, adaptive PE specialist and PE teacher at SJCC.
But what happens to the average non-athlete who wants to use the gym while he or she is stuck here at campus between classes or stressed out one day? They are either forced to pay high monthly prices from outside sources and clubs, adjust their schedules to join these classes or attempt to make a sports team.
With a large weight-room (holding 100-150 Chiodo said) that has fairly new equipment, shouldn’t we as a student body be able to access it in some other way than enrolling in a class or committing a lot of time to a sports team?
“In my opinion they (SJCC) should charge an open gym fee. That way we can create some extra money that could go to improving the gym equipment or maybe like a scholarship fund,” Chiodo said. She added that since people would be paying to use the weight-room, they wouldn’t waste their time socializing and would work harder.
“Being allowed to use the weight-room would be solid, it would give me something to do in between my classes and the long breaks I have, and it would be convenient since I wouldn’t have to drive to another gym and probably pay a lot less here,” said Nick Jones, a student and non-athlete at SJCC.
City College can fully utilize it’s professional quality treadmills, free weights, pulley systems and stair-masters by allowing all students the opportunity to use the weight-room at all times throughout the day.
With all the money spent on maintenance and equipment, each student should be allowed to either use the gym by purchasing a semester-long permit, similar to the parking passes, that would allow access whenever the weight-room is open or at least the temporary option of paying a daily fee.
“A cheap semester fee that’s less than other gyms would be something a lot of students would probably go for,” Jones said.
If SJCC can appeal to the students with prices lower than what big brand names offer it can easily and quickly create significant revenue and please its student body.
These options are easy to instill and require no drastic change in weight-room procedures. They would only increase the number of people using the weight-room, increase student satisfaction and bulk up revenue for the school to improve itself.