The 15-minute waits for treadmills and the chipped, rusted
weights familiar to students who visit the John Wooden Center will
cease to exist as of March 2004.
The groundbreaking ceremony marking the beginning of
construction of the John Wooden Sports and Recreation
Center’s West Addition took place Thursday morning.
The West Addition will include a new Outdoor Adventures Resource
Center, an expanded weights room and workout zone.
“We think it’s a fantastic addition to help students
adhere to a healthy lifestyle,” said Elisa Terry, manager of
sports and fitness programming.
In addition to 40 new cardio machines, including elliptical
trainers, treadmills and stationary bikes, the size of the
completed weight room will be triple its current size.
“Within the past fifteen years, the demand for more weight
room equipment increased. A larger weight room was the number one
demanded service,” said Mick Deluca, director of Cultural and
Recreational Affairs.
Students agree that an expansion to the weights room and
additional equipment was long overdue.
“I think it’s excellent because Wooden is too small,
and the weights are rusted and old. I think it’s about time
they did something,” said fifth- year computer science and
engineering student Leon Lee.
“It would be a definite improvement because the Wooden
Center is way too crowded. It’d make me come here more often,
instead of LA Fitness,” said second-year marine biology
student Brett Gamble.
The other addition to the John Wooden Center, the Outdoor
Adventures Resource Center, was planned due to the 250 percent
increase in participants for these programs over the past five
years, Deluca said.
Currently, the Outdoor Recreation Center provides pre-trip
meetings for the wilderness outings which take place almost weekly
and are led by student volunteers.
“Right now we have outdoor trips, but the new center will
allow us to expand on this,” said Outdoor Adventures Manager
Shane Reynolds.
The new Outdoor Adventures Resource Center will introduce the
Adventure Resource Library and house a computer terminal providing
maps, information on national parks, suggestions on where to camp
and other outdoor activities information.
Also featured will be an equipment rental and checkout area,
which will allow UCLA students, faculty and staff to rent outdoor
equipment, such as backpacks, camping gear, snowboards, tents,
stoves and lanterns.
Seventy-five hundred square feet will be added to the John
Wooden Center to make way for the new West Addition.
This is the third and final currently scheduled remodeling of
the John Wooden Sports and Recreation Center.
The original John Wooden Center was completed in 1983. UCLA was
the first among the Universities of California to build a
recreation center.
“When Coach Wooden had retired, the only building he
wanted named after himself was one that all students could
use,” said Deluca.
Plans to expand the Wooden Center began in the late 1980s. The
first addition was the relocation of the Ashe Center to the center
of campus in 1997 to make it more accessible to students.
The North Addition, which includes the men’s staging
building and houses the Navy ROTC, was the second part of expansion
and began renovation in January 2002.
Just as student fees were used to construct the original John
Wooden Center building, a student referendum passed in 2000 will
also help pay for the cost of this $14 million project.
“If we match student demand for services with a student
referendum, I think we have a real winner. It is an exceptionally
well-conceptualized project,” said Vice Chancellor and Dean
of the Graduate Division Claudia Mitchell-Kernan.
Students also support the use of student referendum funds to
help pay for construction on the John Wooden Center.
“I think it’s OK, because if you’re going to
allocate student funds toward something, it should be toward
something everyone uses,” said Dilon Jacobs, a third-year
political science student.
“It’s a risk-free investment because it’s a
service that’s already being used,” said Nathan
Striker, a fourth-year political science student.
The 2002 senior class gift will also support construction of the
John Wooden Center’s West Addition by providing new cardio
equipment.
Swinerton Builders, who are the same contractors renovating the
men’s gym, will construct the West Addition.