Consider this a warning for those who fear physical activity: an Athletics Festival is lurking in MacEwan Student Centre from Wed. to Fri. between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The Students’ Union is hosting the event to give interested students the opportunity to meet sport clubs and university teams.
"In the north courtyard, we are going to have a bunch of sponsors and clubs set up for people who run businesses and agencies related to athletics and active lifestyles," said SU Vice-president Events Jared Lorenz. "Demonstrations of basketball, hockey and volleyball will be held there as well."
The festival offers students the chance to meet members of the Dinos sports teams. Students will see them in action as smaller versions of their respective sports are played out.
"I’m hoping that this gives some exposure to Dinos Athletics in general," said Lorenz. "I know that with Welcome Week, which in terms of beer revenues was a dismal failure, we did manage to get a ton of people out to the first game. They had about 4,000 people, which is the most they’ve ever had."
The SU is hopeful that Athletics Week will reach out to the usually apathetic university populace.
"The Athletics department is trying to get more student support for their events and more funding from the university," said Events Commissioner Kent Hawkins. "I think that this is a good opportunity for the Dinos to get more awareness about their programs."
Due to the amount of planning required, the SU has decided to keep events relatively small.
"It is pretty small this year, we’re hoping to keep it in a reasonable scope so that things don’t get out of hand," said Lorenz. "Hopefully, in future years we will be able to do all sorts of stuff."
The Athletic Festival will serve as a test for future festivals, such as the upcoming Fine Arts Festival. Based on the success of the Athletic Festival, the SU will make changes to the operations of similar events in the future.
"This is our first year running so we are kind of in a test phase," said Hawkins. "We are laying out some events in order to see how they work. The Athletics Festival will act as a premiere test for future Athletics Festivals as well as the Fine Arts Festival."
The Athletics Festival ends on Friday with a Dinos hockey game at Father David Bauer Arena at 7 p.m. and a cabaret at Max’s Café following the game.