Students found a new source of reading material last week when Notre Dame's RecSports delivered a copy of its new magazine to the mailbox of every on-campus resident.
The inaugural issue of Rec features articles about student-athletes and details ways to become more involved in the recreational activities offered on campus.
The magazine profiles students Maureen Spring and James Zhang and contains information on club sports, nutrition and RecSports' new personal trainer program.
Co-director of RecSports Sally Derengoski said planning for the magazine began at the start of this year.
"We wanted to do something that was fun, enjoyable and informative," Derengoski said. "This is a little bit different than what RecSports normally does. We have a lot of good stories about students to share."
She said students have responded enthusiastically to the new magazine.
"I've received many phone calls and e-mails about the magazine," Derengoski said. "We're lucky because over 90 percent of students participate in some aspect of RecSports, and our magazine is for them, and those who don't know much about what we have to offer."
Junior Matthew Smith said Rec helped him learn more about what RecSports offers.
"I felt that information about RecSports was scattered before, so it's good to have it all in one place," Smith said.
The magazine was a result of a focus group conducted to determine what kind of stories and information students wanted to read about recreation.
The two writers for the magazine, seniors Katie-Rose Hoover and Sara Woolf, were part of that focus group.
"Our goal in writing this is to provide students that are already active in RecSports with more information and to tell students that aren't involved not to be intimidated," Woolf said.
Originally, RecSports intended to publish Rec just once a semester, but strong student response may lead to more frequent issues, Derengoski said.
"Many students have called and asked us to publish more frequently, but it's something we'll have to look into," she said
The next planned issue of Rec will be available in September 2007.
