UNC students are incredibly privileged to enjoy the sports and recreation facilities provided by our University.
Well-maintained gyms, weight rooms and outdoor fields are available at accommodating hours — not to mention they don’t require any out-of-pocket expenses for students to access.
However, for the University to realize continual self-improvement, the managers of these facilities must look to the details of the average UNC student’s experience.
One such detail is the issue of accessibility and efficiency regarding Hooker Fields. Any student or community member who has frequented the fields is probably well aware of the pandemonium that sometimes descends upon Hooker.
There is a simple solution — a physical posting area for students to reserve field time. This would be similar to the clipboard sign-in system in Rams Head Recreation Center.
Chapel Hill students and community members would be well served by an efficient, wireless method of allowing Hooker-users to visualize planned events for the fields.
For instance, Hooker Fields employees might use a large, stand-alone dry-erase board to present the day’s reservations.
Currently reservations are primarily used for tryouts and practices for both intramural and club-level sports teams, or basically any university group or activity that requires prior field reservations.
For those that seek to use Hooker Fields for simple pick-up games of soccer, football, ultimate, etc., they often do so, more or less, on a whim. By definition, “pick-up” games are not planned prior.
