By the end of this summer, the university's recreational facilities will have been used by faculty, staff and students an estimated 700,000 times since the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year, an increase from about 666,000 last year.

"I like to think it says that the university community likes the services we provide and if we can get them in our doors, we'll have them hooked," said Troy Vaughn, associate director of recreation services. "We have tried to improve customer service by providing opportunities and equipment that people want to use."

The Office of Recreation Services has created a comprehensive recreation program for the entire Ball State community, including competitive intramural sports, informal recreation, fitness and wellness activities, instructional recreation classes, and family and youth recreation opportunities.

Recreation Services began tracking facility use in 1994-95 after the fitness room in Irving Gym was created and other recreation facilities around campus were upgraded. The first year saw 247,000 visits.

Josh Dobbs, associate director of Ball State's adult physical fitness and cardiac rehabilitation program, said the increase in recreation facility use could be attributed to several factors.

Current college students were raised during the fitness booms of the 1980s and 1990s as well as during a time when K-12 schools began offering more sports programs to females, he said.

"June Cleaver did housework and women today do jazzercise," Dobbs said. "My parents came from the 1950s and 1960s, when if you weren't at work, you were resting unless working in the yard. However, students raised by the parents in the 1980s and 1990s had moms and dads who were a part of the jogging or aerobic booms."

At that same time there was an explosion in the number of organized sports, he said.

"You have more than just football, basketball and track now with sports such as swimming, golf and tennis being added over the last two decades," Dobbs said. "Also during this period, Title IX opened up sports to females. It made athletics more accessible to women."

With Ball State's indoor facilities including two fitness rooms, two pools, three running tracks and up to 11 basketball and/or volleyball courts, it's not uncommon to find hundreds of people working out at any given time of day, said Vaughn, who has a staff of 325 students to man the facilities.

"I have to give a great deal of credit to my staff, because they have done so much with limited resources," he said. "We are open about 96 hours a week and up to 16 hours daily. They work very hard to make sure our customers are happy."

With summer classes underway, visitors to the university's recreation facilities will find the doors open earlier in the morning as well as later at night.

"As we usually do in the summers, we'll open at 5:30 a.m. for the early risers, but we'll also be open until 9 p.m. through Thursday nights," Vaughn said. "Students, faculty and staff have told us over the last several summers that they want the facilities open later. We'll do our best."

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Vaughn at tvaughn@bsu.edu or (765) 285-2722. Information about Recreation Services may be found online at www.bsu.edu/busaff/recprog. For more stories, visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)