idea of the fitness court was presented by the Black Faculty Task Force as a way to combat mental illness and to promote healthy living post-pandemic.
According to the powerpoint presented in the board of trustees meeting on June 7, 2022, the total funding requirement is $202,850. 80% of that comes from the strong workforce funds and the other 20 percent comes from C.A.R.E.S. or other funds.
After roughly a year later, the fitness courts have been installed and are finally open to the public. The fitness court is located in front of the Holt building.
POST academy coordinator Jeff Coon looks forward to the flexibility of training. “It’s close to our classroom, it’s convenient,” Coon said. “We can incorporate that with other certain types of training.”
Jeff Coon sees a way to make the use of the courts flexible for the POST students and for the other students that want to use the courts.
“We would typically go one to three times a week for about an hour, usually during that time it might not be convenient for other people to use it because of course we have close to 40 students,” Jeff Coon explained. “That’s basically three to five hours a week where it might not be available for other students, but other than that time it would be all to the public.”
The fitness courts will be a huge benefit for the POST academy students and other students on campus.
“It gives us a convenient place to work out as opposed to trying to get into the gyms or the track because of all the other athletic programs,” said Coon when asked about the benefits for the POST students. “We’ve already seen people working out on it using it, it has QR codes so people can download the apps and they can look at seven minute workouts. For example, there’s a seven minute workout and it shows you station to station.”
Other people around the community also come to the fitness courts and Jeff Coon sees it as a good thing.
“You can go out as an employee here on a coffee break and get a seven minute workout in every day,” Coon said. “Younger high school kids that are here, they’re using it already, so it seems to be a big benefit just bringing the community and the students together.”