The Nobbs Wellness Center is a nice place for the USAO community to go and reach their fitness goals, but what are the rules?

Chris Basco, associate dean of students and director for health services, said, “There are no general rules for using the center.”

According to Basco’s research, other universities operate wellness centers in the same manner.

“We do have work study students and part-time individuals to assist people with the exercise equipment if needed. They are on duty approximately 80 hours a week.  I try to staff two assistants in the Wellness Center between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. during the spring and fall trimesters,” said Basco.

According to Basco, these assistants hold no certifications but are instructed on proper use of the Wellness Center equipment. Some of the assistants may not be able to “spot” during free weight work-outs, so Basco suggests students bring their own spotter.

Having a spotter is not a problem for some students.

“Usually the soccer team comes here together so I always have a capable spotter for my free weight work-out,” said Sam Rimmer, senior business major from Shrewsbury, England.

Rimmer said he would like Nobbs to be bigger, but aside from that he said it is a great place to workout.

“I would like to see it bigger, but there is really nothing that can be done about that,” Rimmer said. “It is very functional.”

For students who are not on a sports team, working with free weights may be unsafe if a Wellness Center assistant is not capable of spotting. Currently, there is no solution to this.

Basco, who is also in charge of staffing the swimming pool with lifeguards, said, “Security will not open the doors to the pool unless certified lifeguards are present.”

Which begs the question: why the safety precaution differences in the two programs?