Closed Forum leaves Drew athletes high and dry

If one hasn't visited the Simon Forum in the last week, he or she might be in for a surprise. The floor now looks as if it been smeared in an creamy green paste that blurs the lines of the track and obscures the basketball courts from view. Clear tubes ring the floors and balconies several times. And the there are no students jogging along the track or playing pick-up games on the courts.

But in this case, change is a good thing. Though the change appears to be aesthetic, this is not the case.

"The new floor will look very much like the existing surface but will provide better cushioning and a better grip," women's soccer coach Christa Racine said.

The Forum will remain closed for as long as it takes for the new floor surface to be installed. In the meantime, all students have been warned to keep off the Forum floor. To reinforce the point, a miniature barricade has been constructed at the entrances to the Forum.

Ironically enough, the closing of the Forum seems to affect more non-athletes than athletes.

The tennis teams only occasionally practice in the Forum, and play their matches inside only when the weather is bad. The cross-country team has almost all of their meets away, and runs outside during practice.

"Currently, the floor is affecting the varsity sports minimally," Racine said. "Women's tennis' main season was moved to the spring." 

Students seeking to play a quick game of soccer or basketball and the occasional jogger will have to find another location for the time being.

"The floor is scheduled to be completed by the end of September," Racine said. "Hopefully the weather will be nice enough so that the Drew community can enjoy recreating outside as much as possible."

The women's tennis team seems to have been granted a bit of extra time for preseason training. Though the new floor will not be much of an advantage or detriment to the team as far as play goes- as most of their games will be played outside- the general consensus seems to be that it is nice to have nonetheless.

"I was told by my coach that there will not be a big change as far as the floors goes, but I'm excited to see how the indoors courts work and overall excited that we're getting new floors- which I think will be better than the old layout," sophomore Michelle Gbelama said. The fact that the majority of the season's play time has been changed from fall to spring has its good and bad points. On the one hand, there is the chance for team togetherness and practice.

"We can use the extra time to get more practice in and more feedback from the coach," junior Amber Porzio said.

On the other hand, Gbelama said, "It will be a big change because now we have to share a lot of things such as courts space and bus space for away matches and coaches' attention with the men's team, since their original season is in the spring. This will be a little challenging depending on how well both teams cooperate."

The tennis team has the winter off for their athletic year.

That time is spent doing biometric workouts in the Forum to stay in shape. "A biometric workout is basically like cardio workouts. We work on our speed, legs and arm strength and endurance," Gbelama said.

Only time will tell how the new floor of the Simon Forum will work out for Drew's athletes.