Miami University Recreation Blog

I was involved with a number of recreation activities and sports while I was an undergraduate student at Miami. I played on a broomball team during my first year; I got involved with the Outdoor Pursuit Center and took trips to Hueston Woods; I climbed at the climbing wall at the Rec obsessively.

Health, wellness, and recreation are parts of a greater whole…each component informs and nurtures the other component. I suppose the meaning will vary from person to person. But for me, I think of health as the biological component (mental and physical) that can be succinctly tracked and gauged with numbers, data, and metrics. Wellness is a little more nebulous and, at times,  harder to quantify–founded on emotions, feelings, psyche, and stoke. And recreation is a key catalyst for optimizing both health and wellness. The goal is to be constantly assessing all three components, in hopes of cultivating deeper and more enriching day-to-day experiences and interactions with people in the world around you. 

I used to do a lot of rock climbing, both outdoors and in climbing gyms. I don’t climb as much anymore, although I still love the sport. I play a lot of tennis–three or four times a week, if I’m lucky, and sometimes in competitive adult leagues. I also enjoy a good, long jog from time to time. And in the summer I like to get out on water–canoeing or kayaking.

My grandfather was a college coach for a number of sports, and he was undoubtedly someone who influenced my outlook on wellness. He sort of bifurcated his life between playing sports and enjoying the outdoors…and he liked to travel the world meeting new people and being introduced to new cultures. He was a lifelong educator and believed wholeheartedly that every moment is an opportunity for learning and teaching. I try to embrace all of that, almost as a template for my own life. Also, I was fortunate to have wonderful parents–both of whom were educators–and they taught me to value learning, critical inquiry, discussion, and conversation. 

The many recreation opportunities offered at Miami opened my eyes and broadened my interests. They also made me realize that the first step to learning anything is to try it. Whatever the activity is–whether it’s tennis, rock climbing, weightlifting, broomball–you can’t expect to be proficient at it right away; any craft worth doing takes extensive time, effort, determination, and acute focus. I have found that same maxim or outlook, forged at the recreational level at Miami, to be applicable to practically every area of my life and career.

Let your curiosity guide you. If you’re interested in learning a new sport, or embracing a new recreation, or even if you just have the slightest impulse to check out an activity that Miami offers, go for it. Don’t be nervous…don’t be self-conscious…don’t wait…and whatever you do, don’t talk yourself out of it.

There are too many to mention–I feel like I practically lived at the Rec. But a highlight that comes to mind is finally successfully climbing a particular route in the overhanging bouldering cave (at the climbing wall) that I had worked at for a long time. In the climbing world, this process of trying a particular route over and over is called “projecting”…and I must have “projected” this particular bouldering route for months. It felt impossible, but little by little, I made progress on the boulder. In the scheme of things, it was a small victory, but on a personal level, it was a fun journey of setting a goal and working to achieve it over time.