The student athlete study room, established by Gerloff, sits on the second floor of the Sid Richardson Center weight room. It is complete with snacks, bean bags and adjacent to the office of a sports counselor. [File photo]

The student-athlete lounge has re-opened in its new space in the Sid Richardson Center, with a larger space and a sports counselor’s office adjacent to the lounge.  

The new lounge can be found by going through the weight room doors and immediately turning left and climbing up the stairs. 

The lounge now occupies what was formerly office and meeting space for the football coaching staff, who have since moved operations to the Moritz Fieldhouse. 

“I thought there’d be some more opportunities for traffic and interaction. I sometimes felt like [the original lounge] was out of the athletics loop,” Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Retention Jill Gerloff said. “Being in the building [Sid Richardson Center] even is just nice because I have more interactions with my colleagues and students, and it’s in the building where they can just come up after or before a workout.” 

A counselor from the Texas Wesleyan Community Counseling Center, Angelica Matthews, is also available to those who stop by; her office is adjacent to the lounge. She shared that she has experience with the mental struggles of a college athlete, saying she tore her ACL went through months of rehab.

“I can connect with the athletes when they experience things like that,” Matthews said. “I can connect with the lack of support because, you know, being an adult, your family doesn’t always get it.” 

Matthews is aware that students may be hesitant to stop by but assures that it can be a healthy part of an athlete’s reset if they’re struggling. 

“If you question it, why not go?” Matthews said. “Just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you’re broken or you are never going to be okay. It’s just like talking to your friend.” 

Matthew’s office hours are as follows:

Mon/Tues: 10 a.m.—12 p.m. 

Wed/Thurs: 10 a.m.—12p.m. and 1 p.m.— 4 p.m.

Saturdays: 2 p.m.—4 p.m.  

Appointments are available on request. 

For student athletes stopping by just to rest or study, the room is complete with four couches, two bean bags, a microwave, a refrigerator filled with sports drinks and snacks. Staff can also be found for assistance in the lounge, including junior business analytics major and student assistant Anas Charit.  

“If anything runs out or if anyone needs anything, they can just let us know,” Charit said.

When asked what he thought of the new lounge compared to the previous space, he mentioned the music and weights clanging from the nearby weight room.   

“Something that’s definitely different is the noise,” Charit said. “People before would sleep, but they can’t really do that anymore. People who used to come by the lounge, we don’t see them as much.” 

Religion and psychology major and Lady Rams wrestler Ashley Lekas, a frequent patron of the lounge, expresses how she enjoyed the secluded location of the previous room in the church, but is still grateful for the dedicated lounge. 

“There are other student [athletes] that were commuters of maybe an hour plus [drive], so maybe they don’t get enough sleep, and it’s a perfect place for them,” Lekas said. “I study here. I prefer to have a little bit more quiet, but I’m just grateful for anything that because this is a commodity that not a lot of schools have, and I’ve been to four universities.”

Gerloff says that she is working on a solution for the noise.  

“The biggest thing that we have to work on is trying to reduce the noise because the weight room, the music can get a little loud and out of control,” Gerloff said. “We’re working on some soundproofing things.”