Bring in a new Wrestling Room

To whom it may concern,

My name is Devin Winn, I am a freshman here at Bridgewater State and am also a starter on the varsity wrestling team.  During the first week of practice I noticed that as a team we have to roll out the mats we practice on every day before and roll them back up every day after practice.  This takes time away from our practice and there has been an occasion where practice had to end early because there was a class being taught in the Kelly small gym.  Now this is not that big of a deal, however, it would be easier on a lot of faculty and students if the wrestlers had our own room dedicated to us where the mats could stay rolled out and we were able to show up, mop, then practice. 

Along with having to roll the mats out in the Kelly gym, each year around January for a certain number of weeks the team has to rent a truck, load up the mats, and move them across campus to Tinsley Training Center where practice is held.  I don’t know if you’ve ever had to move mats before, but it is a huge pain to deal with and it takes away from some teams who also have to train in Tinsley.  Having a separate place specified for the wrestling team would take away that hassle and keep each practice for all teams running smoothly.

Not only would this benefit the wrestling team in a tremendous way, it would benefit some of the staff in Kelly gym as well.  For example, the custodian who cleans the gym at the start and end of every day can not clean the floor completely with our mats rolled up in the way, this also causes the dust and dirt that he can not sweep up to get caught on our mats in the creases and could bring the spread of skin infection and/or sickness. 

Also, if there was a separate room dedicated to wrestling, any yoga or similar classes could use that space to run the class.  Instead of rolling their yoga mats out on the hardwood floor, where if someone loses balance and falls over they could hurt themselves, they could roll the yoga mats out over our wrestling mat and have a safer more comfortable yoga experience.

CPDC runs every Saturday in Kelly, sometimes they swim, other times they play basketball, and other times they use our mats when the smaller kids are running around or climbing on things to build motor skills and again, if they fall on the hardwood floor they could get seriously injured.  Having this padded room could prevent and injury happening to a younger kid as well as any kid who is messing around.

Overall having this room would greatly impact many of the faculty, staff, student, and anyone else who choses to take advantage of it.  The wrestling team has had its downfalls, however with 11 new freshmen joined this year, the program is on the spiral up with many more students and much more success to come.  I would hope that you please consider this option as it could have a very positive impact on the University’s campus as well as the lives of everyday students like my team and me.

Thank you for your time,

Devin Winn

Class of ‘21