Parks and Rec converts racquetball court to expand weights/exercise area

The weights and exercise areas at the swimming pool and community recreation facility have expanded, with more equipment stationed in the converted racquetball court.

Parks and Recreation Director Lucy Robinson said the facility has seen an increase in use of weight-lifting and cardio equipment like treadmills and stationary bikes over the past several years, so they wanted to expand to satisfy the demand and encourage people to keep coming back.

"We've hustled our little tails off to make sure that we are getting up to speed with updated equipment so that people want to come in here and move their bodies," she said. "And it has been amazing."

The expansion plan was brought to the Parks and Recreation advisory board, and the department also reached out to the community through an online survey. "We've had support since early last year, but we wanted to take a look and see what the public said," Robinson explained. "I do believe it was 75% (out of 50 responders) who wanted the change."

She said the expansion provides a larger space to accommodate workouts. "It allows for people to do specific movements without getting in each other's way."

Part of the expansion involved repurposing the racquetball court, where people would play racquetball or wallyball (known in some places as rebound volleyball), in which players could hit the ball off of the walls.

But those types of sports have been decreasing in popularity. "I liked wallyball," Robinson said. "Wrangell used to (have) avid wallyball players. There used to be things going on all the time, a lot of tournaments and such, and you just don't see that draw much anymore."

The Parks and Recreation director pointed out that the court, which measures 1,000 square feet, sat unused most of the time. "So for me, I just couldn't justify trying to squeeze people into a small space (like the original weight room) ... when really you could be using this space and put equipment in it so it draws people into it."

Another motivator behind the change was recreation coordinator Devyn Johnson's certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine in senior fitness and group fitness activities for youth. "She worked hard to get her certifications," Robinson said. "So, we were really driving and focusing on strength training because strength training, they're finding, is such a crucial piece to health and wellness."

Parks and Recreation staff will continue to phase out some of the machines that aren't as multi-functional in use, and they've already moved some of the older cardio machines into the pool area.

"We typically try not to put anything new ... in there," Robinson said. "But people do like to spend time out there on deck. It's warm, it's about 86 degrees, and you've got probably a 70% to 80% humidity in there, so we've got some go-getters that go out there and run."