Plans for gym on REC: ‘‘Advanced stage’’
The University Sports Center (USC) wants to broaden its presence, in part because of the possible limitation on the influx of international students. If all goes well, the USC will open a new gym in the basement of the newly renovated J/K building in the summer of 2025. The sports center is also looking at new collaborations with colleges and the MBO Amsterdam.
Now it really seems to be happening. ‘‘Our predecessor Theo van Uden worked on it for about 30 years, but we have never been as close as we are now,’’ USC director Marco Hoekstra gushes. If all goes well—"We are holding back, as a university decision has yet to be made’’—the USC will open a new gym on the Roeterseiland campus starting in the summer of 2025.
To be exact, in the basement of the newly renovated J/K building, where over 600 square meters will be available. USC and UvA are in talks with the architect to consider the requirements that the otherwise windowless space must meet. This includes ‘‘how it should be laid out and what installations should be removed from the basement, or where the plumbing could be.’’
Mental health
Because the space allows no daylight in, it paved the way for use as a gym, Hoekstra says. ‘‘After all, that makes it less than suitable as a study space, but for an hour of exercise it's not so bad.’’ Doing sports and getting together have a positive impact on students' mental health, according to the UvA. This is a topic that the UvA devotes sustained attention to, such as with the annual UvA Mental Health Week that took place again two weeks ago. That is why Hoekstra says the university was eager to build a new sports facility on the Roeterseiland campus.
International students
But USC director Hoekstra also has reservations. He realizes that the influx of international students at the UvA, who he says are represented in large numbers at USC, might be limited as a result of the present bill on the internationalization of higher education. It contains measures aimed at reducing English at higher education institutions.
Financially, this may eventually have implications for USC as well, Hoekstra says, ‘‘but we are in good shape.’’ Still, partly because of this, he is looking at new collaborations with other educational institutions.
New collaborations with HBO and MBO
For example, he recently started a collaboration with the Amsterdam School of the Arts (AHK). ‘‘Its employees can now also come to us under the same conditions as UvA and HvA employees.’’AHK students will have to wait a while before they can do sports at one of the USC locations. ‘‘The AHK will decide in the coming months whether students can join the USC the next academic year on advantageous terms, just like UvA and HvA students.’’ The USC is also holding talks with the InHolland University of Applied Sciences, the VU sports center, and the MBO in Amsterdam.
‘‘This way we keep thinking about expanding our presence. As far as I'm concerned, the USC is there for all Amsterdam students,’‘Hoekstra says. This will happen through new collaborations and a new location, the latter at a ‘‘place where some 23,000 UvA students come together to study.’’ And beginning the next academic year, possibly also for sports.
