Athletics and Recreation On and Off Campus

Overview

Human recreation can be traced back thousands of years and has taken a variety of different forms throughout history. The modern manifestation of recreation is centered largely on sporting and outdoor activities. In rural areas across the country, collegiate sporting facilities have made campuses into centers of recreation for their surrounding communities. Dartmouth is no exception to this trend, serving both its students and the Upper Valley with dozens of sporting programs, the Dartmouth Outing Club, and a multitude of well-maintained facilities. The College’s unique location and its support for an active lifestyle provide the means for almost any type of recreation one could wish for.

 


The Green

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View of the Green from Baker Tower. Early Spring.

The Green has long been a centerpiece of both the town of Hanover and Dartmouth College. In its early years, the Green was primarily used as a grazing pasture for livestock owned by the townspeople. Most students got their exercise through hard manual labor, and among their chores was the clearing and maintenance of the Green. In the beginning of the 19th century, tension began mounting between Hanover and the College as to who should have exclusive use of the land. The College won the dispute and in 1836, a fence was constructed around the Green to keep the townspeople’s livestock out. Recreational use of the Green expanded for the rest of the 1800’s as students gained an increased aversion to hard labor and demanded more leisurely sporting activities. The College’s early intercollegiate baseball and football games, track and field meets, and tennis matches were all held on the Green until newer sports fields were constructed. In it’s modern form, the Green is no longer the site of varsity competitions, but it remains a hub of casual recreation and relaxation for the both the Dartmouth student body and Hanover residents. On a sunny afternoon you’d be hard pressed not see people playing frisbee, baseball, soccer, volleyball, or just lounging out on the grass.

 


Alumni Gymnasium and Intercollegiate Sports

Alumni gym, constructed in 1909 and expanded in 2005.

Walk down East Wheelock Street, and you will arrive in front of Alumni Gym. Alumni Gym was originally constructed in 1909, a time when students around the country were pushing for more intercollegiate sports and better athletics organization amongst the nation’s colleges and universities. The NCAA was chartered just three years prior and was acting only as a discussion and rules-making institution in its infancy. Much of early collegiate sport was characterized by the violent hazing of underclassmen—one of the first major issues that the young NCAA was tasked with fixing. In initial intercollegiate competition, the Ivy League dominated most other schools because of its upper-class student athletes. Their families’ wealth allowed them to grow up with more time for leisure and thus more time to master a chosen sport. Women only became heavily involved in high school and collegiate sports after the passage of Title IX in the 1970’s. The legislation drastically increased the number participation in sports across the country, and by the early 2000’s, as many as 43% of all college athletes were female.

Carter Noordsij

One of the many tennis courts surrounding Alumni Gym.

In 2005, Alumni Gym received a $12 million renovation and expansion. At the present, it boasts two indoor swimming pools, two basketball courts, a 14,000 sq. ft. fitness center, an indoor track, rowing tanks, and a myriad of surrounding fields and courts. The gym is open to both Dartmouth students and the general public, and is likewise located on the ill-defined line between the campus and the town. Just behind it sits the the football stadium, which, like many other modern sporting arenas, is shaped to resemble the coliseum of ancient Rome. Wrapping around the football field is the 400 meter track. Both are used for Track and Field meets in the spring season.

Sports at Dartmouth, as with other schools, are important not only in enhancing the student experience, but also as sources of alumni donations and other revenues. At many larger schools, it isn’t uncommon for the football and basketball programs to bring in millions of dollars between TV, ticket, and merchandise sales. Most of the renowned collegiate coaches in those sports are the highest paid employees at their respective institutions, and sometimes in their entire state. Their teams bring in so much entertainment-related revenue that the schools willingly carve out seven or eight figures from their yearly athletics budgets to spend on a coaching salaries. Still, it’s worth noting that only eight schools in the nation actually make a profit on their athletic programs, and most all of them are among the top earners in football.

For more information about Dartmouth sports and recreational facilities, click here.

 


Leverone Field House

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Front of Leverone Field House from Route 120.

After the gym, continue down East Wheelock Street and make a right on Route 120. As you walk south down this road, you’ll pass by Leverone Field House. The sports teams at Dartmouth use this arena during Winter term when it’s too cold outside for regular practice. The stadium has an indoor track and a turf field, with equipment for almost every sport. During the Fall, first-year students spend their first night of the Trips program all together on the turf. This creates an environment that caters to both the sports department of the college and to the incoming freshmen. Leverone was designed by Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi, who also designed the sport palaces in Rome for the 1960 Olympics. Construction finished for the field house in 1965. The architecture is similar to that of Thompson Arena across the street, where the ice hockey rink is located. The arched roof not only follows Nervi’s traditional designs, but also handles heavy snowfall far better than a flat roof. If you walk on east side of Route 120, across from Leverone Field house, you may see white, painted rectangles on the telephone poles along the street. These are called ‘blazes’, and they are used to mark the Appalachian Trail. As you walk down the street, you will eventually come to the Hanover Co-op.

 


The Hanover Co-op

The Hanover Co-op sells natural food products and caters to both hikers and town residents alike. It began in 1936 when 17 professors from Dartmouth College formed the Hanover Consumer’s Club.

Front of Hanover Co-op

Front of Hanover Co-op

This co-op is part of a chain of stores throughout the Upper Valley owned by more than 30,000 families. The Co-op is strategically placed to optimize its consumer base. If you look across the field behind the store, you may see where the Appalachian Trail enters the town of Hanover. As hikers come through, the Hanover Co-op gives them a chance to stock up on supplies before heading off again. The Co-op is also located at a major intersection on Route 120, so residents from around the area have easy access.

 


Dartmouth Sports Fields

One of Dartmouth’s turf fields.

Take a look at the sports fields right behind the Co-op. You can see a softball and a turf field with a soccer pitch in between. It’s important to pay attention and think about the amount of work that has to be done to maintain certain landscapes. The grass fields require constant mowing, watering, seeding and weeding, while turf fields require significant amounts of material to produce and install. These locations are areas for recreation that attempt to mimic more natural scenes, which is interesting because they back right up to the forests of New Hampshire. This aspect of the landscape is unique to Dartmouth; at most other colleges you won’t be able to go straight from a softball field to the forest.

 


The Appalachian Trail

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Sign to the AT heading south down Route 120.

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The AT just off of Route 120, heading towards the softball fields and Velvet Rocks with white blazes on the trees.

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Blue blaze on a tree marking the path to Velvet Rocks Shelter after it splits from the AT.

Eric Brunner

Velvet rocks shelter

If you move through the parking lot of the Co-op and turn left at the first chance, there is a grassy edge between the softball field and a creek that works it way towards the forest, with occasional white blazes on trees. You are now officially hiking the AT! From this point on, it’s an easy to moderate hike along to Appalachian Trail to Velvet Rocks. Velvet Rocks is a scenic section of the AT because of the moss-covered boulders along the trail. I have been there once, and the area really does seem to be covered in velvet. It’s important to stay off of the rocks though. The moss that creates the site is very fragile.

When you start the hike, make sure to read the posted notices at the beginning of the trail. These can have important information, like potential hazards along the route or any news from crews about the condition of the trail. While hiking, make sure to constantly be checking for the white blazes. There are multiple game trails running through the area and the trail itself is not cleared of leaves, rocks or roots so the route can often be confusing. As some friends of mine in the Dartmouth Outing Club like to say, “Each trip to Velvet Rocks is a new hike.” After a little less than a mile of hiking, you will come across a fork in the trail. At this point, take the left hand trail with the blue blazes for 0.1 miles to reach the shelter, or take the right fork to continue north on the AT towards Moose Mountain and Maine.

The shelter itself is a simple lean-to with a fire-pit and privy near by. It was originally built in 1936 on the lawn in front of Robinson Hall as part of the DOC’s membership drive. The shelter was taken apart and rebuilt at its present site in 1937. In 2007, the original shelter was dismantled and replaced with a newer version. It is designed in an Adirondack style that matches the other shelters along the AT. For more in-depth information along with a map and a hiking guide for this section of the Appalachian Trail, visit the DOC’s website. Once you’ve reached the shelter, you can continue along the trail where it merges with the AT again, or you can turn around and head back to the sports fields. As you hike back down the now familiar trail, try and think about the landscapes of recreation in your own life. I encourage you to spend more time outside, and instead of enjoying the land at face value, try and see past the aesthetics and into the layers that make each area unique.

 


Created by Carter Noordsij and Eric Brunner


 

Sources:

Childs, Francis Lane (1961). Hanover, New Hampshire: A Bicentennial Book. Hanover, New Hampshire: The Vermont Printing Company. 266.

Winslow, Barbara. “The Impact of Title IX.” The Gilman Lehrman Institute of American History. http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/seventies/essays/impact-title-ix.

“Dartmouth College Athletic Facilities: Alumni Gym.” DartmouthSports.com. http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11600&ATCLID=590342.