TAMUK Rec brings in new equipment

“whether that’s weight equipment, whether that’s programming, whether that’s facility oferings…you know whatever brings students to feel connected to the university.”

Starting Dec. 3, the Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK) track teams will be racing and competing in the Boo Rogers Invitational meet in Pittsburg, Kan. This will be the frst meet they have and also the frst away meet.

This will be the start of their 2022-2023 track season, and they hope to compete with the best and win against the best. With this meet being an away event, many of the athletes face difculties not being able to run and compete on their home turf. Some athletes think, “It is a lot diferent running and competing against teams on the road. It takes a diferent type of focus to win events like these,” Roel De Leon said.

These track athletes go through the same thing as every sports team in the world. Competing on the road and not in your home stadium always seems to make things more difcult, being that it is diferent from what you are used to.

When you compete at home you have that small or even sometimes huge edge on your com-

Even though track and feld events do not bring in the biggest crowds, you still notice a diference when competing.

“We don’t really bring in a crowd, but a big difference is the weather, altitude, and even just not being able to run on the track you are used to running on every single day. These are all big factors when we travel and compete in diferent places around Texas and the country,” Criselda Cruz said.

Although these informalities may cause a change in how athletes compete, they still are able to embrace them and compete at a high level no matter where they are. These athletes train and prepare themselves mentally, physically and emotionally to compete like this. They even train for these situations.

“We always prepare for the worst and always make sure we are ready to compete no matter where we are and who we are going up against,” Bryson Dyer said.

TAMUK’s track and feld team is ready for the season to start and are prepared to reach new heights that they haven’t reached in past years.

On Oct 27th, 2022, the Student Recreational Center here at Texas A&M University-Kingsville opened their doors to new and updated workout machines. This included all new upper body machines, new lower body machines, new cable machines, and some rearranging.

Being able to have access to the new and updated equipment is a great way for the students to interact at the Rec Center and enjoy being on campus.

“Our student population is always changing so what was big maybe a year ago or two years ago might not be what students are into now, so I think it’s always important for a Rec Center on a college campus to be able to adapt and fnd out what meets the students’ needs,” Director of University Recreation Marcus Wirth said,

The Rec Center opens their doors and welcomes students to come and try out the new equipment and get a great workout in.

“Within two weeks of me being here, getting new equipment at the university and we’re already looking at redesigning some things and programming offerings that we can do here to really engage the student body and make them feel connected to not only the Rec Center but the university as a whole,” Wirth said.

The Rec Center ofers great opportunities for students like personal private training, intramural sports and an indoor track. Students on the campus enjoy having access to a place where they can set and reach their workout goals.

“Your physical health plays a big factor in your life, and it could afect you positively and academically,” student Ly- nette Guerra said. “College can get tough and stressful but by the university providing students access to physical ftness it could take some of that stress away by feeling good physically because it helps me better mentally.”

Paving a path for a healthy lifestyle can be fun and purposeful at TAMUK.

“We got a lot of better equipment than we had in the past…before it was a lot of repetitive machines,” Faculty Supervisor Eric Vela said. “Now we have more diverse machines and the machines themselves count your reps for you, your rest time, and how long you’re undergoing a workout on the machine.” Follow the Student Rec Center on all social media for further updates.