University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ
MISSION
The University of Arizona Campus Recreation collaborates with the university community to offer exemplary facilities, programs and services that inspire participation and engagement. Campus Recreation is a university leader for inspiring an active, healthy and engaged lifestyle that enhances a sense of well-being and fosters community.
FACILITIES
University of Arizona students lobbied university administration for 10 years to get a recreation center of their own starting in 1976. They were finally successful in 1986 and voted to build the student recreation center. The building opened in 1990 and debuted the new integrated Campus Recreation department. Today, Campus Recreation has some of the most diverse and comprehensive programs and services available, including massages, cooking, nutrition, art, music, dance, martial arts, fitness, meditation, mindfulness, outdoor recreation, aquatics, club and intramural sports and youth programs.
The recreation center is over 200,000 square feet and receives recognition each year as one of the top university recreation centers in the country. The facility boasts six gyms, six racquetball courts, 2 squash courts, running track, an outdoor pool, five multi-purpose studios, a special programs weight room, massage therapy rooms, a 30,000 square foot weight room, bouldering wall, outdoor volleyball and outdoor recreation center. Several facility spaces are activated with foos ball, table tennis, gaming station, TV’s and lounge space. William Sitton Memorial Field is directly adjoining the facility.
FUN FACTS
- The recreation center lobby contains tutoring services, computer lab, a UA Bookstore outlet and healthy food café.
- The pool contains 650,000 gallons of water and is rumored to be just one inch shy of regulation to avoid being commandeered by Athletics.
- The facility expansion achieved the nation’s first LEED Platinum status for a university recreation center, in part due to the extensive solar systems on the roof that heats the pool.
- Campus Recreation runs an ACHA Hockey team that is responsible for bringing ice to Tucson.
- Adaptive athletics programs offer wheelchair tennis, basketball and rugby as well as integrated classes like Yoga for Any Body.
- Public art hanging in the lobby is named Cornucopia.
- This year will see the 21st Anniversary of A Camp, the university’s only licensed day camp.
- A walk through the main hallway will offer a glimpse of the history of recreation at UA in the hall of fame
Photo by James S. Wood www.jswoodphoto.com
