Bellarmine Students Find Community Within Campus Fitness Center
Bellarmine’s Sport, Recreation, and Fitness Center (SuRF) provides students with a place to exercise and stay active but some students said they find a sense of community and social life there.
Trinity Howard, a student employee at the SuRF, said the facility helps students build connections while managing the stress of college life.
"People should come to the SuRF because it's a great way to meet new people and let off some steam, especially during those study weeks," Howard said. "I love working out here and meeting new people. I've made some great friends here."
Sophomore Eli Hazelton said he appreciates the connection between the SuRF and his social life.
"My favorite thing
about coming to the SuRF is seeing my friends," Hazelton said. "We all like to get together, listen to music and hang out."
The SuRF serves a wide range of students, from athletes to those simply looking for a place to stay active. Junior Delaney Cooper said she likes the way the facility brings different groups of students together.
"I like that people who don't play sports can come here and also people who do play sports because sometimes I feel like it's very separated [athletes and non-athletes], and here it's not," Cooper said.
The SuRF is an on-campus fitness facility located behind Knights Hall. Students, faculty and staff have free access to the center with their Bellarmine ID. The facility offers cardio and strength equipment, basketball courts, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, group fitness classes, intramural sports and personal training opportunities.
While the SuRF offers a lot of amenities, including a sense of community, there are some improvements that students would like to see.
"I think they need a pullover machine," Hazelton said.
Cooper said that as far as strength-training and weight-resistant machines, there’s one of everything. Especially on busier days in the SuRF machines can be occupied. She would love to see multiples of the same machines to allow for more efficient workouts.
The most recent equipment updates occurred in 2022, when new free weights and a hack squat machine were added to the facility.
Previously, the SuRF underwent a major renovation in 2019 that included updated court surfaces, new furniture, fresh paint, upgraded lighting and additional Bellarmine branding throughout the facility.
According to a March 2022 article from Knights Media Network, “SuRFing into The Future,” former Director of Campus Recreation Shawn Newton identified upgraded flooring as the next potential project for the SuRF though no timeline had been established.