University of Houston to Expand Its Wii Class Next Semester
advertisement
Interact With Us
Best of 2011
Top Stories of 2011
The most popular stories of 2011. Did your favorites make our list?
Resource Center
Buyers Guide
Find industry businesses by product or service categories, view company profiles and more.
Club Industry Trade Show
The Club Industry Conference and Exposition, held each October in Chicago, is the most comprehensive event in the fitness industry. Learn more about this exciting conference and trade show.
Industry Events & Trade Shows
The industry-wide calendar features listings for educational events, trade shows and more.
Classifieds
View classified ads for health club equipment and services, plus business opportunities and job postings.
Current Issue
Read stories from the latest print issue of Club Industry magazine.
Club info and News
Read news about some of the biggest names in the industry.
- 24 Hour Fitness
- Anytime Fitness
- Bally Total Fitness
- Crunch Fitness
- Club One
- Curves
- Equinox
- Gold's Gym
- Health Fitness Corp.
- LA Fitness
- Life Time Fitness
- Lifestyle Family Fitness
- Planet Fitness
- Plus One Management
- Powerhouse Gyms
- Snap Fitness
- Spectrum Athletic Clubs
- Sport & Health
- Town Sports International
- Sports Club Co.
- Urban Active
- Wellbridge
- Western Athletic Clubs
- World Gym
E-Newsletter Signup
Breaking news on the industry, people on the move, mergers and acquisitions and much more. Delivered weekly.
HOUSTON — While today's college students may not know what racquetball is, nearly all of them know about Wii games. A Wii Performance pilot course offered this fall at the University of Houston is proving to be a popular way to get students who otherwise might not have taken a fitness class interested in exercising.
“Students love it, and sort of different students sign up for a Wii course as opposed to a face-to-face course,” says Charles Layne, chair of the department of health and human performance.
The department converted a racquetball court into a studio that supports 10 Wii stations for the one-credit-hour course. It's the first for-credit course of its kind in the country, according to the school.
“We've been interested in the idea for a while, but you have to plug in 10 Wii systems at once, and with the way our power is in the building, we didn't want to cause a brown out,” Layne says. “We converted one of our racquetball courts because we only teach a couple of sections of racquetball a week now, and many students don't know what it is.”
The team installed sound barriers in the studio and upgraded the electricity and lighting to accommodate the Wii class. Twenty students enrolled this fall and use the 10 Wii stations to improve their posture and center of balance. They also learn about healthy body weight and nutrition.
Instructor Ben Hoffman is an exercise trainer and soccer instructor. In Wii class, he acts as a circuit trainer to help keep people on track. The class is proving so popular that the department plans to offer an additional two sessions of it in the spring.
“Some blogs have been making fun of us, but if this gets people to take a class that wouldn't have taken other physical activity classes, then we've been successful,” Layne says. “We see it as a gateway class where students can build their confidence.”
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.










Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus