The Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center at Youngstown State University hosted its second National Recreational Sports and Fitness Day on Friday.
The celebration of collegiate recreation featured several different athletic events in which students could participate, like a two-hour spinning course and a Putt-Putt challenge.
The events were held in honor of Rec Day, a holiday started by the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association to bring awareness to the benefits of an active college lifestyle.
Katie Palagano, a graduate student at YSU and an intern at the Rec, taught the first half of the spinning class. She said 15 bikers attended.
Spinning is an intense form of stationary biking where the resistance adjusts as if participants were biking on a trail, on flat land or up a hill.
“It basically simulates an outdoor bike ride. Today, if we really went on a bike ride, it would be as if we went to the Eastwood Mall,” Palagano said.
Ryan McNicholas, coordinator of fitness and wellness programs at YSU, encouraged participants to bring a nonperishable food item in place of a registration fee. The items will be donated to a local food bank.
“This is a relatively new event,” he said. “Next year, there are going to be different events. We’ll try to shake it up every year.”
McNicholas said Rec Day is a good way to expose students to different campus activities.
“We try to show how the Rec Center is all encompassing. We have so many different things going on here,” he said.
Palagano said the Rec offers personal training, free access to a dietitian and table talks — the most recent being about how stress can affect physical well-being.
“Having these days is nice to get the students active, but we also use it to promote what the Rec Center offers every day,” Palagano said, adding that Rec Day featured an informational table about the Rec Center. “The Rec Center is more than just a gym. … It’s a holistic thing for your mind, body and soul.”
Palagano said the Rec Center’s latest offering is the Passport to Health and Wellness, in which students receive a stamp on their passports after they complete an exercise challenge. After filling their passports, students will be entered into a drawing to win a basket of travel items.
“We just want students to know that we have people to help achieve your health and wellness goals,” she said.