Charles J. Ping Recreation Center

Hours: The Charles J. Ping Recreation Center is a large, clean, and well-maintained gym with a variety of facilities. It features racquetball courts, several basketball courts, and multiple treadmills and elliptical machines. The center offers volleyball, spin classes, free weights, and weight training machines, along with secure lockers for day use and lockers for rent in a spacious locker room. The staff is friendly and helpful. However, from a student perspective, the gym has potential for improvement. The building is massive, but there is limited free weight equipment, with only a few squat racks and benches available. This often results in long wait times, making it difficult to follow workout routines as desired. Some suggest converting parts of the basketball courts into more weight rooms and adding more benches and machines, like a leg press, to better serve users. The facility is also popular for volleyball tournaments, offering two levels for watching games, but the main floor can get crowded. Some tournaments lack scoreboards and food options for participants and spectators. Overall, the center is a great resource with room for enhancements to better meet the needs of its visitors.

1. Athens, Ohio