Sept. 15, 2014
Celeste Burnham
[email protected]
Alpine Field on top of the new parking garage has a great view of the Colorado Springs cityscape. Now, students are taking in the view.
Club sports are now practicing and hosting games on the field, and flag football and outdoor soccer intramurals are starting up.
Matt Gaden, the assistant director of Facilities and Operations, feels Alpine field adds impact to athletics and fitness for students.
“We needed space for open student recreation,” Gaden said. “We are lacking nice grass areas where students can kick a soccer ball, throw a Frisbee or just sit and study. We needed other space for athletics because Four Diamond’s hours were limited.”
The field has a 16-foot net around the top to stop athletic equipment from finding its way onto Austin Bluffs Parkway, and deliberately trying to kick the ball off the roof will not be tolerated and strictly enforced.
“There is no recovery system in place,” Gaden said. “Somebody will have to take a little hike and walk down there to pick it up.” Alpine Field will add a new element to group fitness for the Rec Center. Isaiah McFarland, a graduate student in sports medicine, has developed a boot camp called the Take it to the Field class.
“I want to focus on agility, speed, muscle, cardio and endurance,” McFarland said.
McFarland isn’t new to instructing group fitness. He is a certified personal trainer who created the boot camp class at James Madison University in Virginia.
“I think any chance to get some exercise from a certified personal trainer is a good thing,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for social bonding. Like boot camp, you have to get through it together.”
The T2F class looks to have battle ropes, sprinting parachutes and even some tires. They are still in the process of figuring out storage on the field.
“It’s going to be similar to a boot camp class and of course we want to make it fun,” McFarland said.
The class is part of the Rec Center group fitness schedule on Wednesday from 5-6 p.m. The class will take a break at the end of October and pick up again in the spring because of weather. Game times and practice schedules will be available through the Rec Center as well as online.
The hours of operation for the Alpine Field are Monday through Thursday 2-6 p.m. and Friday through Sunday noon to 6 p.m. Students must have their I.D. to check out equipment.