Dining Hall Dilemma, an Athlete’s Trouble

As of this Fall semester, Smith Dining Hall has been running on a new schedule. However, athletes across campus have found this change a little tough for their schedules.

During the school week, if you miss lunch, your best bet is made to order food at Smith Dining. For lunch, an option of burgers, chicken tenders, and some salad or fruit is not a bad array.

But what about the athletes with late-night practices? Well, for those who finish up practice after 8 pm, Late Night it is. That same option of burgers, fries, chicken tenders, cookies, it doesn’t sound like a diet to fuel an athlete.

I was able to speak to a member of the Women’s Lacrosse team, who had practice until after 8 p.m. several nights a week during the fall. Jillian Andreas spoke with me about the troubles of eating with practices. 

“There would be nights where we wouldn’t start practice until 8 o’clock, and not get out till just before 10 (p.m.). It would be difficult because you should eat before practice, but if you want something after, you are stuck with Late Night. Even on days when we had practices early, starting at 6 p.m., we would not get out until after 8, so late night was the only option. Last year, this was not an issue as Smith was open until 10, but now it's a struggle.”

And understandably so. It would be hard to recover after practice with fried foods. Problems also arise with putting away other parts of the dining hall. The salad bar and fruit are put away quickly, before 8 p.m., all cereal is taken back, and so is the smoothie station.

There is no alternative by 8 p.m., just the made-to-order food. This dilemma is harsh on athletes, but for all students, too. Any clubs that meet during the evening might miss the dining hall hours and find themselves in the same boat; these new hours cause trouble for students all across campus.