PLYMOUTH-On Sunday, February 20, John P. Clark, director of the PSU’s Athletics department, spoke before the student senate about his concerns for the state of the athletics department as a whole and especially the state of the physical education facilities.
A new physical education center is part of PSU’s Master Plan for renovating and updating the campus. However, Clark is concerned about the condition of the facilities before and between renovations.
“We have by far the most inferior facilities. The most common response as to why students won’t come to Plymouth State (to pursue athletics) is because of the condition of our facilities,” stated Clark.
The project to renovate the current facilities is expected to be underway by the year 2012. The new facilities will include an aquatics center, ice rink, and space for the HPER department while still housing the athletic department. The existing athletic fields will be updated and new artificial turf will be added as well. “We estimate that the total cost will be around 55 million dollars,” stated Bill Crangle, Vice President of Academic Affairs.
The department also faces trying to fund improvements to the facilities in the mean time. The athletics department is currently going through the allocations process and presenting their funding issues to the student senate.
” This is a pretty unique situation. At UNH (for example) students have a substantial athletic fee… greater than that [of] Plymouth state,” stated Clark.
Regardless of the obstacles that the department faces, Clark is still optimistic of the support athletics receives. He was especially pleased by the outcome of the Spirit Week events.
” When I saw the involvement and support that we got that night, it made me feel great, and the fact that we beat Keene twice made me feel great too,” Clark said.
The Athletics department is also currently working on innovative ways to improve the turnout at sporting events by devising better advertising strategies.
The department has also been focusing on improving the academic performance of student athletics. Clark says that they are paying close attention to first year students who are not only trying to adjust to college sports, but are also trying to adjust to college living.
” I view athletics as being part of the whole experience atPlymouth State,” commented Clark.