By Rebecca Bartlett [1]
BELLEVILLE – Ladies’ night at Loyalist College’s fitness centre [2] is done for this school year.
Every Wednesday evening from the start of this semester until Study Week, women who might be shy about hitting the gym have had a chance to work out without any men around. But some men who use the gym would get upset about having to leave at 6 p.m. Wednesdays, especially when attendance for the women’s evening tended to be low.
“When it was ladies’ night I would kick everyone out at six when it started, and it would be dead for about an hour,” said Baileigh White, a student employee at the gym. “And then we would get about three or four women. The most we’ve had on a ladies’ night was 10 girls and it’s hard to keep the whole facility running if there’s no one coming in.”
The women’s evening was created two years ago after a survey done by the student government [3] found that some women were intimidated about using the gym and wanted to work out without men being there, said Cory Mestre, Loyalist’s co-ordinator of fitness facilities and campus recreation.
Only a handful of men get upset about not being allowed to use the gym on Wednesday evenings, said Mestre. For the most part, he said, guys are understanding that there are around 70 other hours a week that they can use the gym, and that some women need ladies’ night to gain the confidence to work out with more people around.
In both the fall and winter semesters, women’s night shuts down after Study Week.
Mestre said that’s because after five or six weeks, attendance drops and women have gained the confidence to use the gym at any time.
He added that he would love to see more people take advantage of their gym membership. Full-time students pay for a membership with their ancillary fees, and part-time students pay $65 if they want to use the gym for the school year.
For the rest of year, Wednesdays at the gym will be just like every other day of the week – it will be open to everyone for the entire evening.