Diorka to overhaul recreation

Hopes to build new indoor facility includin a track, weight room, ad swimming pool Newly-hired recreation director Mike Diorka hopes to oversee a complete overhaul of the University's recreation facilities, including an indoor track, new weight rooms, gymnasiums and swimming pools. He emphasized that these plans are still in the very early stages. Athletic Director Steve Bilsky is setting up an exploratory committee to evaluate the feasibility of such a facility. Before coming to Penn, Diorka oversaw the construction of a multi-million dollar indoor recreational facility at Tulane University, where he headed up the recreation department for eight years. Diorka said he hopes a new facility at Penn would serve as the center of all recreational activities on campus. "[Students] want the best possible education for the dollar and the best amenities for the dollar," he said. Although Diorka said plans will not be finalized for at least a year, he explained that the University is considering a site either near 30th and Walnut streets or at the Philadelphia Civic Center, if the University purchases the building. Bilsky said he believes Penn needs an entirely new facility, explaining that plans have been in progress for some time. "I can pull out a document [from] 30 years ago about a study that we need an indoor track," Bilsky said. "[A track] adds culture to the campus." At Tulane, the recreation facility Diorka helped develop opened in 1991 after students voted to add a $200 "tax" to their tuition bills in order to fund the new building. The facility -- which housed a 7,000-square-foot weight room, indoor track, three dance rooms, two gymnasiums, a juice bar, an Olympic-size pool, a game room and more -- "paid for itself" and became "the most widely sought-after site during the tours," Diorka said. For now, Diorka is concentrating on putting together a comprehensive study and survey of the University's recreation programs. "There aren't many scenarios short of complete renovation of all facilities," he said. According to Diorka, the recreation department does not have to compete with health clubs like University City Nautilus, which attracts students who do not use the University's weight rooms. "What recreation provides is more than just lifting weights," Diorka said. "The name of the game [for health clubs] is profits? our name of the game is to have fun and to satisfy students." Diorka said he will also focus on creating a recreation advisory board and on improving the Athletic Department's World Wide Web homepages for club and intramural sports and recreational programs. As the newest Penn athletics administrator, Diorka oversees all intramural and club sports, instructional programs and summer camps. Athletics administrators streamlined the recreation department after Bob Glascott, director of intramural recreation sports, and Ann Wetzel, coordinator of racquet sports, retired over the summer. "We needed an experienced professional that understood a campus like this," Bilsky said. Diorka also has other ideas -- which he successfully implemented at Tulane -- for events to increase campus camaraderie, including a mile-long race on Locust Walk and an intramural golf outing with a barbecue. One of Diorka's noted accomplishments at Tulane was the upgrading of the intramural football program. According to Tulane's Bill Canning, associate vice president for auxiliary services and campus recreation, students played eight-on-a-side, "two-hand rough touch football" before Diorka came to the university. At the time, players wore "reject hockey helmets" and used outdated rules that allowed only three eligible receivers, Canning said. Diorka turned the antiquated football games into a nationally used flag football program. "We were kind of moving from the '60s right into the '90s," Canning said. Diorka -- a Philadelphia native and graduate of St. Joseph's University -- coached several high school and college track teams before going to Tulane. "The sign of a good coach was to take basically someone with average talent and make him into something," Diorka said. He said recreation should be an integral part of the University. "I think recreation on the college campus today is very much a part of the curriculum in a sense -- the co-curricular experience," Diorka said, adding that recreation can largely contribute to "total student satisfaction." "[The purpose of] recreation is to recreate the body, recreate the mind," Diorka added. "There needs to be a healthy outlet for [students] to take some of that pressure off."

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