The recreational facilities for Iowa State add many conveniences to student life and are constantly being improved to benefit its users.

The facilities for recreation include State Gym, Lied Recreation Center, Beyer Hall, the RCA fields, the southeast fields across from Jack Trice stadium and the Towers fields. These facilities coordinate with various events where students can participate.

Intramural sports utilize the different facilities on campus. Rhonda Fritsche, the program coordinator for recreation services, said the scheduling is done on a semester by semester basis.

Scheduling is done by priority. Academic classes come first. Athletic practices have space until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and then recreational services such as intramurals, sport clubs and fitness programs are scheduled.

During Homecoming events, the tournament coordinators bring in a schedule, and then they work around the intramural schedule.

“We basically try to plug them into open spaces,” Fritsche said. “We typically don’t interfere with intramurals.”

This week Homecoming tournaments have been held at Lied Recreation Center and the outdoor intramural fields.

The events that were held inside included volleyball, soccer, basketball and mini olympics.

Flag football was held outside, along with a photo scavenger hunt.

“The students get a made up list, and we give them 16 clues,” said one of the tournament directors Laurie Rupe, a junior in chemical engineering.

They had to find 12 clues within a 3-hour time limit.

Doug Scheffer, junior in mechanical engineering, is the other director for the Homecoming tournaments this year. He said that being able to use Lied Recreation Center has been very beneficial to the tournaments and students.

“We don’t have to worry about weather concerns or darkness, and most people know where it’s at,” Scheffer said.

The facilities coordinators said they are working for the students. Fritsche said she likes the interaction with the students.

“That’s what I love the most about my job,” Fritsche said. “With some clubs, I have a different president each year so I get to meet new people.”

Fritsche also said that the program helps educate the students.

“We’re here to educate them about the real world,” she said. “It helps them learn about policies and procedures of reserving space for things their organizations do.”

Mike Harvey, director of recreational services, recently attended a conference at Texas A&M to see its new $9 million recreational facility.

The facility includes a climbing wall, which is something Iowa State is adding to Lied Recreation Center. It will be constructed in the first racquetball court and will have a viewing area.

Harvey said having a variety of facilities is an advantage that Iowa State has over the other universities such as Texas A&M.

“We have four different facilities that people in the different residence halls can utilize,” he said.

Sarah Perau, junior in business marketing and apparel merchandising, said she likes the ability to go to more than one place to workout.

“I think it’s convenient to students because they can choose the location that’s closest to where they live,” she said. “Then it doesn’t take as much time out of your day to go workout.”

Some new things planned for the recreation center include day use lockers and televisions in front of the equipment, Harvey said.

User will be able to work out on a machine with a headset and a television directly in front of them, and each person can tune into whatever station he or she wants. There will also be an FM radio station.

“It could be short term or multiple years [before the televisions are installed],” he said.

Perau thinks this would bring more people to the recreation center.

“It would pull people out that like to sit at home and watch television. Now they would be able to go workout and watch it,” she said.

The day use lockers are designed to allow students to store things such as keys and clothes somewhere while they exercise.

“We’re all trying to do the same things and meet the needs of our campus,” Harvey said. The facilities coordinators want to have the team approach. If they have great facilities intramurals will do great also, he said.

“It’s imperative that we as a facility team do our part so the others can do their part, and we can be a success,” he said.