Sorry, the Gym For Who?

gymnasium | jimˈnāzēəm | noun (plural gymnasiums or gymnasia): a room or building equipped for gymnastics, games, and other physical activities

I have been kicked out of the gym twice — once for playing volleyball during my free period, and once for playing volleyball during my free time after my mock exams. In both of these cases, the gym was empty. Yet, I was warned that I was not allowed to use the space, and could possibly be banned from entering the gym in the future. To clarify, my friends and I did not possess spray paint to vandalize the gym, and there were no classes at all at that time: only the loud air conditioner sounds filled the empty gym.

For whom does the gym exist? Why are we paying for facilities that we are not allowed to use? Is our money being spent on keeping the gym cool and empty? My friend and I were kicked out due to the following reasons.

One: people might get injured.

Hold on, aren’t injuries inevitable when we are playing sports? Injuries are always a risk for everyone when we play sports and limiting students’ gym access because the PE department does not want injuries to happen seems unreasonable. How could any sport be played if injuries were unacceptable? Also, I acknowledge that injuries can occur in the gym, but is it more likely to be injured playing volleyball with your friends or lifting heavy weights in the workout room? To enter the workout room, students are obligated to sign their name on a sheet in front of Mr. Elliot’s office. However, as a senior who uses the workout room often, I see many underclassmen using the equipment incorrectly in ways that could cause serious injuries. Honestly, I think injuries are more likely to occur while working out in the workout room than while bumping volleyballs in the gym. It seems unreasonable to have our rights to use the gym neglected just because injuries could happen.

Two: if we were allowed to use the empty gym, more people would come in the gym and use the space.

Do we not want this to happen? On the school walls, I see posters promoting physical exercise; isn’t a gym filled with students during their free time exactly what we want? Since when are gyms expected to be quiet and empty? The gym is not a library. Our school gym will never be able to completely fulfill its purpose with such limiting rules.

Three: supervision is limited.

We were not allowed to play volleyball because there was not a supervisor present. However, there was a teacher present in the PE office, yet our right to use the gym was denied despite his presence. Why is this? During lunch, there have been only two teachers (excluding the PE teachers up in the office) who supervise the 30-40+ students in the gym—correct me if I’m wrong—for almost all my time in this school. That is about 15-20 students per teacher to supervise. We had 6 people when we asked if we could use the empty gym. I have been going to the gym for lunch for almost 7 years and I never saw a supervisor call a student up in the gym for misbehaving. The only reason that supervisors are present in the gym is that students might get injured, and whether or not supervisors are present, injuries will happen. The presence of supervisors does not reduce the risk of students getting injured.

As we choose our IB courses, PE is no longer in the curriculum for juniors and seniors except for those who take Fit 4 Life as a CAS course. When the gym is empty and the PE class is in the workout room or on the field, we want to use the gym. Of course, if we are disturbing the class by using the gym, it would be reasonable to be asked to leave. However, I do not think playing volleyball on the gym floor would disturb the PE class working out in the workout room.

To understand the PE department’s stance, I interviewed Mr. Adam Tomassen, the head of the athletics department. As a PE teacher and a varsity volleyball coach, Mr. Tomassen loves sports and wholeheartedly supports the idea of students getting active and sweaty. It may seem odd that a sporty person like him holds strict rules about students’ gym access. However, there are reasons for his stance.

First: equipment.

According to Mr. Tomassen, a few years ago, the gym and equipment room were open to students and they were allowed to use the gym whenever they wanted to. However, after using the equipment, students who promised to return it did not bring back the equipment, and left it in the gym or out on the field. This really annoyed Mr. Tomassen and the PE teachers as they had to pick up the equipment and put it back themselves. He also commented that students would lose the equipment and not inform any of the PE teachers about it, which led to the decision to limit students’ gym access.

Second: school culture.

“Would students walk in the middle of a math class and do whatever they wanted to do?” Mr. Tomassen expressed his disappointment towards the school culture of how students do not regard PE as a regular class like math, history or science. He stated that numerous students interrupted his class to ask him if they could borrow equipment. The worst thing was that those students would rudely play basketball or volleyball right next to his class. He thinks that students behave like this because they do not regard PE as a rigorous course.

Third: supervision.

This item is addressed above, and Mr. Tomassen had more to say about it. He stated that supervision is very important even if there is only one student using the gym. He commented that “even if one student gets injured in the gym, the PE department will be asked if there was supervision at that time or not and if not, we have to take on all of the responsibility.” He also commented that assigning teachers to supervise students using the gym is not ideal because all the students and teachers have different free blocks and scheduling all this would be a great hassle.

For such a long time, ordering food outside the campus without having to act discretely was a wish for all of us. Last week, Mr. Tragert sent out an e-mail about the revised school policies for ordering outside food. Students wanted to eat outside food and the school wanted to keep the students safe. Mr. Tragert’s recent e-mail allowed the students’ desires and the faculties concerns to meet halfway and satisfy both sides.

As a student who is unhappy about the gym usage policies and who also interviewed Mr. Tomassen about the PE department’s reasons behind their decision, I completely understand both sides. One possible solution is that the school could hire supervisors from outside the school or reassign some existing staff members, and create a calendar with the dates of when the gym is empty. On this calendar, students could sign up their names on the days they want to use the gym so that the supervisors are aware of these dates and will show up on those days.

For whom does the gym exist? How could this problem be solved? Please comment with your thoughts below.