Brianne Kane – Special to the Southern News
As anyone can tell you, staying fit and healthy is good for you, but it’s hard when Conn Hall serves pizza every night. If you’re having trouble, you can start here. College is a huge adjustment for everyone, a big part of which is figuring out how to stay healthy with your new schedule.
Eating a healthy diet is important, but so is staying active. Joining sports, or the Fitness Center is not only a great way to stay in shape but a great way to meet new people! Working out with a buddy or trying out for a sport with your new roommate is a great way to keep yourself motivated, sociable and always ends with a fun story to tell.
Intramural sports were designed to be an active alternate to the intercollegiate sports teams, like the SCSU football or swimming team. But these “alternate option” sports are no joke – soccer, dodgeball, floor hockey, kickball, and flag football are all intramural sports. Kickball and Flag Football already have their fall registration open from August 13th to the 5th and 6th of September.
Personally having gone to quite a few games of these sports, to cheer and observe only, it looked hardcore awesome and everyone had a great time. Just as in high school, sports are important to the campus community and are designed to be fun and create camaraderie – I mean really, once you play kickball together you’re buds for life.
Club sports are very similar to intramural sports, and are available to all full-time undergraduate students. Southern Connecticut State University offers a lot of club sports, so there are plenty to try and see which one clicks the best with you! There is the SPDC which is a really cool dance team, along with the SCSU dance team and drill team, “Steppin’ Up.” There is also the color guard, cheerleading as well as the drumline for anyone who feels spirited enough to represent SCSU! Of course there is volleyball, men’s and women’s rugby, lacrosse and ice hockey but the club sports also have options like karate, paintball and ultimate frisbee as well.
One SCSU senior, Greg Jositas, plays Ultimate Frisbee and has for three years. Greg says that many of his friends came from[1] joining new sports like Ultimate Frisbee and playing this club sport is a fun addition to his workout schedule of biking and soccer.
The campus Fitness Center is another great way to stay fit and fun during the semester. A membership for the Fitness Center is $60 a semester and includes access to the gym equipment as well as fitness classes. For those of you who are not sure if a full membership is right for you, try the one week pass for $10, to see if it fits in your schedule well (you can only try the one week pass once a semester).
For group activities, there is zumba three days of the week and now piloxing (a combination of pilates and kickboxing being offered new this semester.) Also new is the TRX Suspension Training System, which the Fitness center will be hosting training sessions to help us all learn how to use this new workout machine. One of the best ways to meet people is to go to the Fitness Center’s free special events, “the Multicultural Center is hosting a free zumba class with the Fitness Center, Monday, September 167:15pm-8:15pm in the Adanti Student Center Ballroom for Hispanic Heritage month. These sorts of events are great to go meet new people and workout and have fun together!” The free group activities that the Fitness Center puts on throughout the semester are always popular, always fun, and most importantly – free!
Another social and active event to keep your eyes out for is homecoming – yes its more than just the football game – there will be a 5k this year. The Fitness Center will be hosting 5k training sessions for all students to attend (no membership needed).
Staying healthy is important, but college is also supposed to be about having fun! Intramurals, club sports, and working out with friends in the Fitness Center all combine the health benefits of staying fit with the social atmosphere of hanging out with friends.
