IUS Times

The Changing Face of Athletics at IU Southeast

By Ann McNally

Despite being a commuter campus, IU Southeast has a strong athletics program with solid participation and retention. To further strengthen the program, IU Southeast has recently been expanding and upgrading facilities. The changes are expected to bring new faces, activities, and opportunities to the campus.

Currently, IU Southeast's collegiate athletics include men's & women's basketball and tennis, baseball, softball, volleyball, cheerleading, and the "Red Edition Dance Team."

Fast Pitch Softball

New for this year is fast pitch softball. "This area is big for softball," said Pat Mrozowski, athletic director for IU Southeast. "Adding it to our program has generated a lot of interest and our brand new softball field is the nicest in our conference."

The softball team has already begun practicing on their new softball field and has participated in some off-campus scrimmages. Their inaugural season will begin on Friday, March 2, 2007 with play against Alice Lloyd College. The addition of Fast Pitch Softball will bring in 25 - 30 more athletes to the program at IU Southeast, as well as 2 new coaches.

"This team is poised to be a serious challenger for the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) title," said IU Southeast's fast pitch softball head coach, Todd Buckingham.

Tennis

IU Southeast has enjoyed tremendous success in tennis, winning numerous titles including winning consecutive KIAC Championships (women's 1999 - 2000/ men's 2001 - 2005). Unfortunately, in recent years the IU Southeast tennis courts had become a problem for the University. The financial outlay for maintaining the facility was becoming cost prohibitive due to its age and design. As a result, the tennis teams had to move their practices and games to other courts in the area.

The good news is that the IU Southeast tennis teams should soon be able to return to their home courts. Newly renovated courts (five) are expected to be ready for play for the 2007 season. The renovation of the courts was funded, in part, by a gift from the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau. The Tourism Bureau recognized that the courts will benefit both the campus and the larger community.

Another growing segment of the IU Southeast Athletics Department is the intramural program. Perry Brown joined IU Southeast in June, 2006 as fitness and intramural coordinator at IU Southeast. His addition to the program has been a big part of that growth. During the 2005-06 school year, there were just four intramural activities - basketball, softball, kickball and dodge ball. Since then, he has added numerous other activities including flag football, volleyball, golf, PS2, Texas Hold 'Em, and several others. While these activities are designed primarily for students, Brown emphasizes that community members are welcome to participate for a small fee.

To attract more students, faculty, and staff to various athletic programs, Brown has made some changes to the IU Southeast Fitness Center. Televisions and updated equipment have been added including StairMaster, elliptical, and cross training machines. In addition, the facility features a variety of fitness options including Nautilus equipment, treadmills, exercise bikes, and free weights. The Fitness Center is free to the campus community (when presenting a Student ID, Faculty/Staff ID, or Grenadier Club Pass).

Brown is specifically targeting those who say "someday I'm going to start working out at the Fitness Center," with free fitness seminars each semester. The classes will provide an introduction to the equipment as well as demonstrate proper form when exercising.

He also plans to soon offer Yoga classes. They will be offered in the spring semester during lunch time and are free to students who show their identification.

Look for possible celebration in March

Discussions are now underway for some type of celebration in early March to showcase our University's new athletic facilities.

Since March 3, 2007, will mark the opening of the baseball and softball season, Mrozowski said he may ask the Chancellor (Sandra Patterson-Randles) to throw out the first pitch and, at the same time, host some type of open house.

Mrozowski noted that our University's burgeoning athletics program benefits the entire community--not just the campus community. "We have some outstanding facilities and we want to get the word out to everyone," said Mrozowski.

For more information about the Athletics Programs at IU Southeast, visit their web site at http://www.ius.edu/athletics/.

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