A Student's Review of the University of Memphis

The University of Memphis has its flaws and its perks. It's like most schools in that way. If you plan to be a student at the University of Memphis, you will want to be sure to take advantage of one of their best features. Their gym is truly fantastic. Use of its facilities is free for all the university's current students. You will need to present your student I.D. at the entrance to be let in. The gym features an indoor pool, a weight area, a cardio center, and several game areas.

The indoor pool is open from one in the afternoon until seven at night on weekdays*. Its lowest depth is six feet. The shallow end by the entry stairs is three feet. The shallow area is for those who just want to play around. Most of the pool is lap lanes. Beware that the local high schools use the pool to train their swim teams. If you wish to use the pool between 2:30 and 4:30, you will be sharing it with a team of teenagers running laps. There is usually a lap lane or two left open by the shallow end of the pool.

Floating devices and flippers are available to borrow. These are especially good if you just want to hang out in the shallow end and play around. The University of Memphis has an outdoor pool as well. However, its season starts two days before spring exams end. The season ends about a week after the fall semester begins. I've never used the outdoor pool. If you want to use the gym facilities in summer, and you aren't taking summer classes, you have to pay an activity fee.

The weight and cardio areas are together in one room. These areas of the gym are open from about 7am to 8pm on weekdays. The weight area houses several machines for legs, for arms, for stomach, and for just about any other body part you could want to work on. There are also several dumbbells. The multipurpose room also has dumbbells. It is located just before the doors to the pool area. The multipurpose room is usually empty. It's a good place to go if you want to work with dumbbells during peak times when God and everyone is packed into the weight area.

The cardio area has a stair stepper, several treadmills, and several exercise bicycles. It's usually pretty easy to get a machine as long as you aren't there during peak times. There's a peak time in the morning around 11am when a lot of people are out on lunch. There's another peak time when most students are done with their afternoon classes which is usually after 2:00. The treadmills are particularly nice because several of them have small television sets attached. Bring some head phones and you can watch your own personal TV while walking.

The gym has rooms for basketball, racket ball, golf and various other sports and games. The equipment for these rooms is free to check out if you are a current student. You'll need your I.D. to give to the equipment room while you have their items out. The golf area is a small room. It's there mostly to practice putting. I think it was meant to be another racquetball room. You enter through a half door that you must duck to get through. The other sports rooms I have never tried. I can't vouch for or against them. However, I've never heard complaints.

Overall, the University of Memphis gym is very nice. The gym almost makes you feel alright about the hundreds of dollars in sports fees that are attached as part of your tuition. Fees you pay even though you are majoring in film. However, the gym is a great facility. The university maintains it fairly well. It's a very good perk.

*all information on the gym is as of Spring semester 2008.