Leisure and recreation plays an important role in our daily lives, especially for the people entering the “emerging adulthood” phase in their life. This would typically be the people between the ages of 18-25. “Emerging adulthood” is a very broad phase in terms of where people are in their lives. They could either be busy studying at university, or they have started working at a new job. It could include people happily living ‘the single life’ or they could be married with two kids. If I were to discuss all the possibilities of how recreation and leisure plays a role in the entire phase, this blog would never end. Thus, I will only discuss the role university recreational programmes has on this life phase.

North West University (NWU)  in South Africa has 3 campuses, all presenting different recreation activities. The Potchefstroom campus officially has:

• E-sports
• Dance sports
• Rock climbing
• Table tennis
• Chess

Then there are a mix of wellness, high performance, and competitive sports and activities to choose from.

The university also offers many arts and culture related activities, such as:

• Debate society
• Dance
• Choir
• Serenade
• Symphony orchestra
• Toneel
• First years concert

If a person is part of a university residence, there are even more opportunities to take part in recreational activities. This will differ from residence to residence.

I looked at three universities in the United States of America (USA) to compare and evaluate the recreation services NWU offers to its students. The three universities are Yale University, Stanford University, and Princeton University.

Out of these three universities, Yale University had the most in-depth descriptions of what recreational activities they offer. And it included swimming, squash, rowboats, kayaking, paddleboarding, fishing, tennis, ice rinks for skating and hockey, golf, summer sailing, community rowing, fitness classes for indoor cycling and yoga, and then finally club and intramural sports. Stanford University had open recreation sports where you could just show up and participate. This included badminton, indoor soccer, pickleball, volleyball, and basketball. They also have a lot of club and intramural sports to choose from. Lastly, Princeton University also provided club and intramural sports to choose from, and students had access to a pool and dance studio, as well as access to fitness equipment and classes.

When looking at the universities, there is a clear difference between the activities being offered.  The American universities offers more physical activities that are usually played in teams. In an American context, they also have more experience in what recreation is. Because a lot of South Africans wouldn’t know what you mean if you say ‘leisure and recreation’. So their programmes are a bit more developed and targets more specific needs.

With NWU Potchefstroom campus and my experiences specifically in mind, enough isn’t being done to promote the recreational activities. The only reason I know about some of the activities they offer is because of the communication from the residence I joined. And the courts and fields used for certain sports aren’t available for public use, you have to be part of a university sports team.

But, the NWU website does offer all the necessary information needed to join a specific activity. Either dates and times or contact information. By allowing students to have access to this information they can decide what they want to do and what will fit their schedules. And just by giving students the choice, they will be more willing to participate and get the development they need.

Recreation and leisure is often a very overlooked topic. People in South Africa don’t know how important it really is for a person to participate in recreational activities. By giving them more options on a school or university basis, could be very beneficial to their future development. More education on this subject should also be brought in earlier in life to understand all the implications it could lead to.