Indoor Facilities

Dr. Anshul Singh Thapa

Indoor Facilities

• For conducting teaching classes and competitions indoor facilities has several advantages such as atmosphere indoors remains stable, activities can be organised indoor all the year round. Human performance is liable to fluctuate more outdoor than indoors.
• Conversely, the indoor atmosphere is artificial. From the view point of initial inputs, operational costs and upkeep, indoor sports complexes are a big liability.
• Indoor facilities generally include gymnasia, indoor stadia, multipurpose training hall, fitness and conditioning complexes. Exclusive single sport indoor complexes are very common.
• A typical indoor gymnasium complex may comprise a big multipurpose hall, wrestling/ judo rooms, conditioning weight training hall, fitness and allied facilities (changing rooms, bathrooms, toilets, office seating etc.)

​

Gymnasium

• Originally a gymnasium was an arena, a room or an open enclosed space where the Greek youth used to engage in variety of physical activity such as massaging, exercising, combative, wrestling etc. Today gymnasium is a flexible term encompassing all indoor complexes used for multifarious sports and physical activities.
• Badminton, table tennis, gymnastics, wrestling, judo, yogic asanas etc are difficult to perform outside. Indoor facilities are becoming an essential in all the educational institutions.

​

Location:

• With the distinct identity the gymnasium should be located reasonably away from the school/college building so as to cause no disturbance to instructional work.
• However it should be located at a walking distance from the school/ college buildings as well as play fields so as to economise on precious little time allotted to physical activity program.
• It should be so located that it is safe from outside interference, unruliness of students and public nuisance.

​

Size

• No hard and fast rule govern dimensions of the gymnasium. In the early days of organized physical activity, a gymnasium of 60 to 70 feet long and 30 to 40 feet wide with the height of at least 15 feet was considered almost ideal for a school.
• Today, the size of a gymnasium depends upon user’s need, objectives of the programme, type of institution.

​

Characteristics of a Good Gymnasium

• The floor of the gymnasium should be elastic and shock absorbing. Wooden or synthetic flooring provide desired cushioning effect
• The wails of the gymnasium hall should be smooth, strong or no projections. They should be painted light cream or washed white.
• Roof of the gymnasium may be of concrete or fabricated with asbestos corrugated or fibre glass sheet.
• Adequate numbers of door and windows should be so placed as to allow natural ventilation and lighting.
• The gymnasium should be acoustically treated so as to minimize echo effect.
• The gymnasium should have a suitable flood lighting system, to illuminate the activity arena uniformly for uninterrupted activity
• Gymnasium must have adequate number of toilets, lockers, changing rooms, store office etc.

​

​

Care and Maintenance

• Without proper care and maintenance even the finest infrastructure becomes useless, non-functional and dangerous. The following points in this may be worth considering:
• Make cleanliness of the arena and annexes a regular affairs, toilets, bathrooms, changing rooms etc requires special attention. Dusting of the walls and equipment should be regular affair.
• Over-see the fixing and removal of the equipment – post, pits, mats bars, spring boards, poles etc. They should not be dragged or carelessly handled resulting in damaged to the floor and to itself.
• Never allow sharp-edged or pointed-legged articles inside the hall. Such materials an damages floor.
• Play immediate attention to electrical fittings such as wires, switches, lamps etc. Uncared for fittings posed potential danger to life and property.
• Plan over major repair one in five years not withstanding routine maintenance. Special budgetary provision should be made for this.
• Never allow people to tread the wooden or synthetic floor, with improper footwear on.
• Restore normalcy i.e., rearranging fixtures, equipments etc immediately after the gymnasium has been used for unusual purpose such as assembly, meeting, celebration etc.

​

Swimming Pool

• Though enjoyable, recreative and competitive, swimming is a selective instructional activity mainly due to prohibitive cost of construction and maintenance of a swimming pool in a schools or colleges. Like athletics, swimming is also a mother sports and its benefits in terms of health, total wellness, mental poise and fitness are innumerable.
• The swimming pool needs to be planned, designed and constructed carefully and cautiously as it is difficult to keep pace with the new emerging concept in technology and construction material and revolutionary changes occurring in aquatic facilities.
• The interdisciplinary approach of the construction engineers, electrical and marine experts, architects, public health authorities, physical educators and coaches will bring into existence a swimming pool which is a marvel of technical standards, functionality and aesthetic excellence.

Shape and Size

• In school/ colleges, swimming pools are economically constructed in I,L,T or Z shapes. The gigantic sophisticated aquatic complexes used for international competitions are out of the reach of educational institution.
• The experts believe that the pool for instruction, competition and diving should be separated.
• The instructional swimming pool with a shallow depth of 3-4 ft should be large enough to facilitate beginner’s classes. A standard swimming pool is of 50 x 31 m dimensions.
• An instructional swimming pool much be of such length as will help in the conduct of approved competition such as 50 m or 100 m. without any problem the most convenient length being 25 or 50 m.
• The standard pool should have 8 lanes – each lane 2.50 m. Wide spare some space outside lane 1 and 8 each side.
• The standard pool – with diving facility – shall have a gradual slope starting with 1 m. From the shallow end covering 20 m with a gradual slope of 1.8 to 2.8 m upon the diving well.

Characteristics of a Good Swimming Pool

• An important consideration is the material used in the construction of the pool. The material must be of standard quality, durable, easy to maintain and speedy to replace as and when required.
• Swimming pool should be located away from the school building so as it cause no disturbance to academic routines.
• Water depth marking in all at all critical points is essential
• In case of all whether swimming pool the water temperature at 80 F for instructional classes and 74-76 F for competitive swimming.
• All standard swimming pools must have a water filtration plant
• Too much of trees near pool will pollute water , tall building s block air and sunlight and make surrounding stuffy.
• Swimming pool must have adequate number of changing rooms with cupboards, toilets, bath rooms, showers, stores etc.
• A small office attached to swimming pool area will help to regulate the entry, help uses, maintain records and guide visitors.

​

Precaution for Pool operation

• Never allow the diseased individual – especially those with skin, eye, nose legs infection – to enter the pool. A certification from the medical officer should be a pre-requisite.
• Do not operate swimming pool unless one trained life guard is present.
• Keep all the swimming apparatus and gears available in good number as well as in good condition.
• Avoid overcrowding at swimming pool
• Do not allow to enter unless they have proper swimming costume.
• Schedule the swimming hours properly so that the pool gets some time for instant cleanliness

​