The Hornet Gym is once again open to the students! As of last semester, there is an open gym run by the recreational sports department from 7 to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday in Yosemite Hall. Four nights of pick up basketball games right?

Well . . . the program will not be run when there are athletic games, obviously, but open gym will not be available during the intramural sports time either. The problem is that intramural sports run from February 18 until May 9, almost the entire Spring semester. The recreational sports department, coordinated by Ken Morton, does a great job with the intramural program, but what about the open gym? Morton said that lots of students show up to open gym and that it is quite popular. Where can the students play during the intramural period? Not on campus.

But we have to start somewhere, and some open gym, even if only for a few weeks out of the semester, is better then nothing. Until last semester, there hadn’t been any open gym since the fall of 1997. This is because of an incident that took place over winter break following the fall1997 semester, when 20 students and non-students were in the closed gym playing basketball. Three 26-year-old non-students, with wooden chair legs, beat Pape Kame, who was a 23-year-old former Sacramento State student, critically in the North Gym. The three were arrested on attempted murder charges, all pled guilty and one served state prison time. Kame, who was beaten along with another student, was put on life support and lay in a coma for over a month following the 10:15 p.m. incident on Jan. 12, 1998.

“He survived but it was a tragic incident,” Campus Police Investigator John Hamrick said. “It was over an inadvertent interference of a full-court basketball game.”

Even though the fight was not during open gym, the attack shut down open gym at Sac State for over three years. But even now, open gym basically comes to an end on Feb. 18, since the gym space is so tight that the athletic teams, kinesiology classes and intramural sports tie up both the North and South Gyms daily for the entire semester.

“The instructional program runs until 2 p.m.,” Recently resigned Athletic Director Debby Colberg said about the gym space at Yosemite Hall. “We have the gym from 2 to 7 p.m. for athletics, and if we are out of the gym at this time, one of the club sports follows us in. Intramurals run from7 to 10 p.m. and it is really hard finding the time for open gym.”

Colberg added that weekend space must be reserved and that she asks coaches not to reserve the gym for the whole day. But even if the gym were empty, students still would not be allowed in do to lack of funding for the recreational sports staff and lack of weekend availability of that staff.

To run the free court time, there must be staff at all times. This goes back to the 1998 incident and the idea that the students can’t be trusted to play pick-up basketball games on their own. Colberg noted that she thinks supervision became a bigger issue since the attack in the gym. The South Gym is not run by recreational sports for open gym, so therefore it isn’t available. If the supervision is not provided, neither is the gym. It seems the students can’t be trusted to act appropriately on their own without being watched. Is this true? Seems a sad statement to have to make.

Regardless, the access to an open gym, especially when it?s empty, is a big issue. Lou Camera, director of student activities, agrees. He says students having access to a gym is important.

“I’m sure students would love to have an open gymnasium. Also students should be able to use the weight room during the day,” Camera said. “We need ac recreation center to give students a place to work out and relieve stress.”

As things stand, for the most part, students do not have a gym on campus to work out in during the day, since access closes at 10 a.m. So a student cannot go and relieve stress between class with the exception of students who have a break after a 7:30 a.m. class, or somebody on campus on Friday (free weight and cardio rooms are available from 11 to2 p.m. on Fridays).

Through my extensive research, most people with 7:30 a.m. classes don’t usually have time for long breaks following it. As for the recreation center that Camera mentioned, the students have voted against it. So how important is it to students to have a place to work out and use a gym on campus? Apparently not essential enough to pay for a recreation center, but are there other alternatives? Maybe.

Morton said it?s possible to have open gym during intramurals (which uses both gyms), if confronted with significant student interest. “If lots of people are really interested we might provide that. But then the funding and staff.” Are lots of people interested in having open gym at Sac State for more than a few weeks a semester? Hopefully students will confront the question.

The recreational sports department can be reached at 278-6321.

Do you want more gym access? Have an opinion on the open gym issue? E-Mail Russ Edmondson at [email protected]