To: facilities@ccny.cuny.edu
From: jsingh015@citymail.cuny.edu
Subject: Slippery/Dusty Floors in the Marshak Gym
Date: 3/12/20

Purpose

The purpose of this memo is to bring attention to the issues in the Nat Holman Gym located in the Marshak Science Building, such as dusty floor and uncovered closed bleachers, hopes to incite changes to promote the safety of the students.

Summary

My name is Jasmanpreet Singh and I am a freshman attending the City College of New York who frequently participates in recreational activities in the Nat Holman Gym. I am contacting you to bring attention to the issue of the floors in the Nat Holman Gym being slippery. This is caused by the synthetic floors that attract dust fairly easily and are not being cleaned often enough. The floors are not just detrimental to the performance of athletes but also are dangerous in terms of their safety. Another issue that is not as significant with the Gym is the issue with balls getting stuck on places such as closed bleachers.

Discussion

Many sports are played in the Nat Holman Gym that require high levels of traction with the floor, such as basketball, soccer, and volleyball. The traction issue is extremely apparent by comparing it with the middle court’s wooden flooring, that is cleaned often. I would ask if you can perform a simple test of traction, for instance try running on both floors and stopping quickly. You should realize that the wood floor provides phenomenal traction while the synthetic floor has a two to three feet of slippage. Slippery floors are dangerous for athletes since it can increase the chance of injuries, I have rolled my ankle a few times during volleyball due to these floors. To avoid this I am constantly cleaning my shoes which provide traction for roughly 30 seconds before I have to wipe again.  Another less significant issue are the closed bleachers causing balls to get stuck on top, this applies mainly to soccer and volleyball. Currently two of my personal volleyballs have been stuck on the closed bleachers and have not been found. 

Recommendations 

Personally I would recommend the custodial services either clean the synthetic floors in the Nat Holman Gym or offer students brooms and mops to clean the floors themselves. This being the cheaper option is what I would personally choose. A more expensive but long term solution is replacing the synthetic with wooden floors. This would be much appreciated by the students that participate during recreations and highschool students that use the gym. For the issue about the closed bleachers a simple solution is allowing students to climb the closed bleachers to retrieve balls, or providing a ladder for students to climb under supervision.