Ohio State Recreational Sports expands open booking, displays new schedules online

Say goodbye to guessing whether or not the North Recreation Center’s basketball courts are available for open play.

Ohio State Recreational Sports launched its “open recreation” calendar Aug. 12, said Shea Ryan, assistant director of scheduling and special events for Recreational Sports under the Office of Student Life. Ryan said the updated calendar showcases different types of sports, time slots they are open for play and the specific locations they can be played at on the Recreational Sports website.

These information categories can be filtered by location, time and activity so students can easily consider the gyms closest to them and/or the particular activities they want to try, Ryan said. 

When looking at the group fitness schedule, the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation and the Recreational Sports department decided that with these filter options, students would have a more convenient user experience rather than deep diving into the Recreational Sports website, Ryan said.

“Everything that we have scheduled, whether it be an event or open recreation, is put onto the calendar, and we’re able to pull that information so that it can be hosted on our webpage,” Ryan said.

In previous semesters, this information was available on the Recreational Sports website, but was only updated weekly, leaving students unsure if open play was permitted on certain days, Ryan said. 

The calendar’s new instant-update feature not only makes it more convenient for students, Ryan said, but can encourage them to take up new sports or meet new people in open recreation opportunities. 

“Part of the college experience is trying to acclimate to something new, and experience those passions that you have and maybe develop new ones,” Ryan said. “If this is a way that a person can help achieve some of that, we’re more than happy to try and provide some of those informational pieces to help them get there.”

There are 12 recreational sports facilities on Ohio State’s main campus that offer a variety of different exercises, including badminton, diving, soccer and basketball, Ryan said. Recreational Sports plans to add more activities in the future, with futsal — a type of fast-paced, indoor soccer played on a smaller court — being a recent example, Ryan said. 

In terms of booking, there were 673 bookings for open recreation last fall; before this year’s fall semester wraps up, Recreational Sports plans to see roughly 1,937 bookings for open recreation, Ryan said.

Marci Shumaker, senior associate director of Recreational Sports, said the calendar will allow for easier engagement with campus recreational facilities.  

“It’s a great tool that students can use to figure out how to engage in recreation and hopefully make connections with others,” Shumaker said.

The open recreation schedule can be found on the Office of Student Life Recreational Sports website.