Bridget Keating '08 is a varsity lacrosse player who is required by her team to work out six days a week. The lacrosse workouts involve both cardiovascular exercise and strength training.
"It is literally impossible some days to get through an entire workout because the weight room is filled to capacity or there is an hour-long wait for the treadmills," Keating said. "It's really difficult to complete what's expected of us given the facilities that we have at our disposal."
Keating believes this puts her at a disadvantage at the start of the season. "We're expected to be in the gym for a good chunk of time but the set up here makes it really challenging to be fully prepared for our seasons?especially in the winter months when running outside isn't always an option," she said.
Keating's frustrations are not unusual. There appears to be widespread dissatisfaction among Bowdoin's students with the College's fitness facilities and a general understanding that the cardiovascular and strength equipment here is not sufficient for the population it serves.
"Last semester I tried to avoid working out after 4 p.m. because that's when people would get out of class and that was the rush," said Hillary Hoffman '08, who works at the sign-in desk at Watson. "Now it seems that the period when the gym is crowded is getting bigger and bigger. I get out of class at 2:30 now and I try and come work out but I'm not able to?it just seems like [Watson] is getting more and more crowded for more hours of the day."
The long waits for machines affect more than just students.
"I'm a runner," Dean of Residential Life Kim Pacelli said, "but I don't use the facilities here because I can't guarantee that I'm going to get on a treadmill."
There are only six treadmills at Bowdoin.
"I think we definitely need more fitness facilities," Pacelli added.
The main fitness facility at the College is the Sydney J. Watson Fitness Center in Smith Union. According to Bowdoin's web site, Watson "contains a complete circuit of Cybex machines, an extensive array of free weight apparatus, treadmills, step machines, fitness bikes, rowing machines, cross trainers, and Nordic track exercisers."
There is also a secondary weight room upstairs at Farley Field House and a few pieces of cardio equipment along the side of indoor track mostly used by athletes.
Are student concerns about the fitness facilities at Bowdoin unreasonable? Are the College's fitness facilities adequate for the faculty and staff of the College and the more than 1,600 students who go here, a majority of whom are athletes (varsity or otherwise)?
According to Thomas McCabe, head coach of men's lacrosse, the answer is "no."
"All you have to do," McCabe said in a telephone interview with Orient, "is go in the fitness center and look around at 4:00 in the afternoon. You'll see 45 or so people in there trying to get something done. Watson's not adequate for everybody."
And McCabe would know. Not only is he the head coach of the men's lacrosse team, but he also "chaired the committee that built Watson 10 years ago." The official dedication of the fitness center took place in September of 1996.
"At the time," McCabe said, "it was the best we could do and it seemed to fill the need for a while. I just think that the student body, everybody, is so much more fitness conscious now that a lot more people are using it than did 10 years ago."
"We know there is a need," McCabe added. "All you have to do is travel around to other schools and see what kinds of things they have available."
Indeed, an Orient survey of other New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools found that Bowdoin's main fitness center is smaller than all but two of those at rival institutions (see chart, page 5). And of the two NESCAC schools that have smaller fitness centers than Watson, Connecticut College and Hamilton, both have finalized plans for new workout facilities.
According to Fran Shields, Connecticut College's athletic director and physical education chair, "The small size of our fitness center is something we're working on. We know it's a serious problem. We have a 7,500 square foot fitness center approved in our strategic plan?it's on the docket." Shields added that "it's worth noting that we have no football team, no baseball team, and no wrestling team."
Bowdoin has both a football and baseball team, but no wrestling team.
Hamilton College's new athletic complex, which will include a fitness center "that will be bigger than Hamilton's current facility," will be open to students starting next fall, according to Hamilton College Sports Information Director Jim Taylor.
Bowdoin currently has no official plans for expanding the Watson Fitness Center or building a new cardio or weight room. However, according to Director of Capital Projects Don Borkowski "the capital campaign that's going to be kicked off this coming fall has got a line in it for the fitness center."
The Director of Athletics Jeffery H. Ward was away from campus and not available for comment. Lynn Ruddy, associate director of athletics, did not immediately return calls from the Orient.
Besides frustrating the fitness goals of students, some see Watson as presenting problems from an admissions perspective as well.
"Frankly, I'm embarrassed to take my tour groups past the fitness center," said one tour guide who wished to remain unnamed to protect his or her job. "There are so many fabulous things about Bowdoin. Watson Fitness Center is not one of them."
Indeed, "Watson is not a highlight of the tour and that is clear," said DeRay Mckesson, assistant head tour guide for training.
"It's certainly not the biggest selling point on the tour," added Mckesson, who is also the president of Bowdoin Student Government.
"I wouldn't say we look at Watson as an individual resource," Senior Associate Dean of Admissions Logan Powell said, "but rather as a part of the broader context of athletics. When we talk about it?if we talked about it either here in the admissions office or on a tour?we would talk about it in the larger context of all of the athletic facilities and opportunities. We wouldn't mention Watson without also mentioning Morrell Gym, Sargent Gym, Farley Fieldhouse, the pool, and the Lubin Family Squash Center."
Indeed, the only mention of Watson on the Bowdoin Athletic web site is a photo and caption within a virtual tour of the athletics facilities. Other NESCAC schools display their fitness facilities more prominently.
Colby's web site, for example, proudly trumpets its "5,300-square foot fitness center brimming with state-of-the-art exercise machines and weights"; and Amherst's web site insists that its two-story, air-conditioned, 8,000-square foot fitness center "is widely regarded as the best such athletic facility in the NESCAC." Bowdoin's web site makes no such claims and does not include the square footage of the fitness center online.
In addition, the College prospectus includes only one mention of Watson in a list of all of Bowdoin's athletic facilities, including its rock climbing wall. According to Powell, the lack of a description or picture is mostly the result of space limitations.
Given the fact that fundraising for a new fitness center is slated to begin this fall, it seems unlikely that new fitness facilities will be built any time soon. For now, students?and faculty and staff?seem destined to be left waiting for a treadmill.
"I just think that for a school that is so aware of promoting fitness, exercise, and having an active student body," Keating, the lacrosse player, said, "it's a shame that Bowdoin can't accommodate the lifestyle that it promotes."