Pickleball Court
Cost of project: $150,000.00
Site prep, fencing, lighting, bleachers, nets
Pickleball has been growing in popularity over the recent years. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in all of America, with almost 5 million players and a 40% growth rate from 2020.
- Expansion of recreational facilities: We plan to construct an outdoor recreational surface that contains four Pickleball courts. These courts will provide a wider range of on-campus physical activities and encourage a healthy, active lifestyle among our students.
- Community engagement: We aim to foster stronger ties between our university and the local community. By opening our facilities to the public, we aspire to be a hub for community gatherings, sporting events, and wellness initiatives.
- Enriching campus life: We will create spaces for social interaction. These spaces will facilitate connections among students, promote a sense of belonging, and contribute to their overall college experience.
- New Athletic roster: With the rising popularity of Pickleball, we are looking to proactively add this sport to the OCU athletic roster.
Basketball Court
Cost of project: $45,000.00
Site prep, pad, playing surface, goals
Our campus has been minus a basketball court since the building of the Maxwell Center. This is a wonderful place for students to gather and enjoy time together. This will be the centerpiece of the recreation area. Built at the bottom of a natural hill, we plan to install seating in the hill that will allow viewing of games, and create a multi-use venue. This will be a place where outdoor classes can be taught, music can be played, and worship can be celebrated. With the addition of seating, tables, and other options, this will become a wonderful gathering spot for students to wind down, come together as a community, and enjoy free time on campus.
Sand Volleyball Court
Cost of project: $10,000.00
Site prep, French drain installation, gravel, edging, net hardware, sand
Our current sand volleyball court resides in the middle of our campus green space. The courts are used heavily by our students. Our current court has seen better days. The court does not drain properly and often has standing water. This causes our sand to pack and creates an unsafe playing surface, as well as creating a need to continually add sand at a cost of approximately 5000.00 each time sand is added.
We are proposing a new court, in the area behind the Maxwell center, in what will be our “Student Recreation” area. The new court will be designed with appropriate drainage, edging to keep sand inside the court, and the correct type of sand, designed for sand volleyball. The court will ultimately be safer, more functional, and much less expensive to maintain.
Benches, Tables, and Seating
Cost of project $10,000.00
Site prep, benches, tables, installation
This will create a finished space that will allow for and encourage students to gather. This combination of formalized seating and a casual gathering place will provide for the needs of organized activities and free time gathering of our student community.
- Create seating on the hill above the basketball court
- Allows area to be used for classes, concerts, worship, and plays
- Create “hang-out” areas for students with casual seating, hammock stands, etc.
Archery Range
Cost of project $5,000.00
Site prep, targets, equipment,
Collegiate Archery programs can be varsity teams with scholarships, club sports, or student organizations on campus. This will provide our students a community where friendships can grow, and provide an outlet for our students from the pressures and challenges of their academic pursuits. Adding Archery to our athletic options or as a club opportunity is a good recruitment tool. This is another opportunity to provide on-campus options for our students.
- Solid option as a club or varsity sport.
- Inexpensive to operate and maintain on campus
- Offers a good opportunity to both men and women on campus and offers an opportunity for participation at multiple skill levels.
Ohio Christian University is blessed to have the opportunity to help our students see what living a Christ-centered life looks like. A big part of that process is being able to spend time with our students, here on campus. Time speaking into their lives. Time worshiping, studying, eating, and relaxing as a community. I often wonder as I think about Jesus and His disciples, what did they do to relax? The book of John shows us these men as a community for three years. We know the work they were doing; we know the challenges they faced, but what did they do to just enjoy each other's company and refresh from what were many challenging days?
It is important to the lives of our students that we provide space and time for them to clear their minds, think and refresh. We need to encourage our students to spend time together, to grow as a community on campus. That is why we are embarking on an exciting journey here on campus to create new and improve upon several of our sports and recreational facilities. We feel, and believe you will agree, that providing opportunities for our students to engage in activities on our beautiful campus, is the best way to help them build a network of Christian friends, helping each other to grow, holding each other accountable, and walking in Christian unity.
The Plan: To create a student recreation area, by moving and improving, creating new, and expanding upon what we currently have.
- Move our sand volleyball court from the center of campus to an area behind the Maxwell Center, in the vicinity of the shelter house and trailhead.
- Install a basketball court, with hillside seating, that can also be used as an outdoor teaching area, performance area, and a wonderful place to hold outdoor church services.
- Expand the 9-hole disc golf course to 18 holes and improve to collegiate standard. This will allow us to field a team, competing with other area colleges, in what is one of the fastest-growing sports in the US.
- Build an archery range. This will serve as an activity, a club sport, and ultimately a competitive, scholarship sport at the University.
The Need: To improve our campus facilities and create healthy, wholesome, and interesting ways for students to spend their free time while building the OCU community.
- Providing for our students is the responsibility of the University. When they are on campus, we can better assure that their needs are being met and their experience is in line with our statement of faith.
- A student is much more likely to stay involved with the University after graduation, supporting the Alumni association and the school, when they have a more immersive college experience.
- Building a community builds accountability, builds relationships, builds affinity for their classmates and the University as a whole
- Offering a more dynamic student experience improves recruiting of students, increases enrollment, and retention. This ultimately improves and assures the health of the University.
