An indoor arena at the new Student Activity Center near Presidential Village will host several intramural sports ?beginning in the fall.
The new court will provide students a place to enjoy some sports that were difficult to play in the older Student Recreation Center, such as floor hockey and indoor soccer.
“It looks nicer, the surface is better so you are not slipping or anything like that,” sophomore intramural participant Ryan Sweeney said. “Last year if you kicked the ball too high, it would go out to the side and into the basketball games and stuff, and that would take a while to get back in.”
Sweeney played indoor soccer last year, one of the three intramural sports the facility will host. Dodgeball and field hockey will be played in the fall, and indoor soccer in the spring. Dodgeball and indoor soccer used to be played in a temporary plastic arena that was put on the basketball courts in the spring.
The court has a rubber floor, is more slip resistant and will be less bruising than hardwood basketball floors. The wall around it is plexiglass that will not break or shake when hit. To prevent balls from escaping, there is also a net covering ?the top.
“I think it will be nice that we have a specific facility for those individual sports,” said Daniel Smith, a program assistant of officials for intramural sports. “It will make it easier on the participants in general, just so they have more structure.”
Smith said the new facility gives students a state-of-the-art place to play sports that most universities do not have.
“I hope people are able to go over there and experience it and say, ‘Hey this is a really nice facility. We need to take advantage of all that we have to offer,’” he said.
