By Rebecca Fiedler
Staff Writer
Students on the hunt for sports equipment to play with have a new opportunity on campus. The Student Union Board, located on the first floor of the Bill Daniel Student Center, now offers free recreational equipment rentals for students.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., students have the opportunity to check out equipment for a 24-hour period.
“Some of these things include hammocks, soccer balls, footballs and volleyballs,” said Chino Hills, Calif., graduate student Holly Smith, the graduate apprentice for the Student Union programming board. “We also have a kite and a bocce ball set and tennis balls.”
Jordy Dickey is the assistant director of the Union Board and originally brainstormed the idea for the rentals with Smith.
“I would say hammocks are our most popular item,” Dickey said. “When the weather is great, hammocks are at an all-time high.”
Students are required to leave their name, ID and email address with the Union Board office in return for the equipment.
“It’s just a really cool way to offer students equipment on campus that’s free of charge so they can borrow for an amount of time and hang out with their friends and just enjoy Baylor outside,” Smith said.
The Union Board launched this service mid-September.
“We’re really just working on publicizing it for students to know that it’s available,” Smith said. “Right now all of our Union Board members know and have been telling their friends.”
If Union Board members are not available at the office to check out equipment during the regular rental hours, students can tweet at @BaylorUB on Twitter and someone from the Student Union Board can make sure the rental room is unlocked. The Union Board’s website allows students to see how many of each piece of equipment are available.
Whether the service will run during the summer depends on whether the Union Board has board members in the office at the time, Smith said.
“We’ve had a really good response so far and we’re hoping that the response will continue,” Dickey said.
Smith said the Union Board hasn’t had any trouble with people turning things in late or stealing them. If such a thing should happen, Smith projects the Union Board will send emails as a warning first and then might eventually charge money for the missing item to the student’s BearBills account, though Smith doesn’t anticipate many problems.
“We really trust the Baylor students,” she said.
