To: President Boudreau

From: Ralph Godfrey

Subject: Basketball courts–safety

Date: September 9, 2019

The purpose of this memo is to bring awareness to the safety hazard the clay floors in NAT Holman gymnasium have on CCNY students. Hundreds of students play basketball there recreationally on a weekly basis.

Summary

As a student who partakes in physical activity and understands not only the physical benefits, but also the potential to improve mental health and academic performance, I rely on basketball as a sport to keep me active. The NAT Holman gym is a perfect place for CCNY students to stay active since it is located right on campus and is open through the convenient hours of 10am-3pm. However, the slippery floor made out of clay material makes it hard for students to decompress from scholastic responsibilities. I think it is a good idea to consider replacing the clay portions of the gym with hardwood floors.

Discussion

The clay floor makes it difficult for students to exercise without risking a serious injury. Increasing maintenance by having the janitor sweep and clean the floors more often would be useless because of how easily the clay material attracts dust and dirt as opposed to hardwood floors.

To prove how slippery the floor is, I conducted an experiment in the NAT Holman gym where 10 athletes used basketball sneakers that had floor traction rated 4.5-5 stars according to footlocker.com. I asked each player to play basketball for as long as they could until they felt the need to slow down their performance or limit movement due to slippery traction. Each player reported slowing down his or her performance with a mean of 15 minutes. One of the athletes stated, “The floor is so slippery, I wouldn’t be surprised if an injury lawsuit happened.” Even though there is a wooden basketball court in the middle gym, it can only be occupied by basketball and volleyball NCAA team members.

Last year around March, my friend Oliver told me about how he rolled his ankle the second day he ever played basketball at the NAT Holman gym. After resting for 3 weeks, he decided to go out of his budget and join the YMCA in Chinatown, which is about 82 dollars a month for a student, accumulating to almost $1,000 a year.

Recommendation

I would like to sit down and talk with on potentially renovating the gymnasium to apply hardwood floors. Since the clay portion of the current layout of gymnasium is about 6 inches lower than the wooden basketball court in the middle, there would be no additional cost of removing the clay floor. According to nufloors.com and HomeAdvisor.com, the installation process should take approximately 4-6 months, costing around $76,000, including the hardwood material and installation per square foot. Email me at ralphg531@gmail.com to further discussion.