NIRSA and Riddle & Bloom, in collaboration with TikTok and 60+ colleges and universities, are proud to launch the 2020 Recreation Movement. This virtual fitness program collects millions of movement minutes from participants, while connecting university students, faculty, staff, and alumni from across the country to offer opportunities for self-care and a sense of community during these uncertain times.
While health professionals recommend adults exercise, on average, 150 minutes a week, or 20-30 minutes a day, people’s new quarantine-adjusted routines are forcing them to find creative ways to remain active all while fighting the risk of exposure. To maintain these recommended active minutes, the 2020 Recreation Movement introduces an online initiative encouraging participants to keep moving during quarantine through daily fitness challenges and workout classes, as well as individual exercises including walking, running, and hiking.
“For a small university like St. Edward’s, the 2020 Recreation Movement has been a lifesaver! With limited staff and fitness class instructors to build up our own digital program quickly, this program gave us a great resource to keep our community active, engaged, and healthy,” says Andy Lemons, Senior Director of Recreation & Wellness at St. Edward’s University. “Our students, faculty, and staff have expressed great gratitude for having access to so many other programs. It’s been great for our students to see other students teaching remotely, and building a community coming together around movement,” he adds.
University recreation center directors, students, and instructors from 60+ participating colleges and universities across the country are sharing a variety of live and prerecorded workout classes from April 6, 2020 through May 31, 2020. Classes include yoga, boxing, cardio, HIIT, conditioning, and more and are recorded and are streamed using various online platforms, including TikTok.
“We are finding it critical (now more than ever) to inspire our campus community to stay active and engaged, no matter where they are social distancing,” says Laura Hall, Senior Director of Campus Recreation at Pennsylvania State University. “The 2020 Recreation Movement Challenge has provided us with a fantastic platform and ready-made tool to enabling us to continue to facilitate a sense of connection and true community and a bit of competitive fun with our universities across the country. The ability for our campus community to easily access the programs of our fellow institutions,” she adds, “has been a huge hit with our students and patrons!”
A leaderboard displays schools’ active minutes logged by users, maintaining college rivalry during the duration of the program. The competition doesn’t stop there, as each week five participating students are rewarded for their engagement in the program with Amazon gift cards.
“The Recreation Movement has provided a wonderful opportunity and motivation for our students, faculty and staff to stay engaged in fitness and moving while they are at home,” says Jeff Calhoun, Director of Marketing & Business at Central Michigan University. Jeff adds, “We are thankful to be involved and appreciative of the incredible work and efforts put forth by NIRSA and Riddle & Bloom. This has been a well-orchestrated program that was constructed and activated at lighting speed!”
The 2020 Recreation Movement is helping the community of students, alumni, university staff and faculty remain positive and healthy. Staying active together, even when we’re apart. “The 2020 Recreation Movement has been a great opportunity for our university community to engage in wellness and wellness activities during these strange times we are living through. Just the other day, a university faculty member commented to me, ‘I need to do something to stay sane and I don’t seem to be motivated to do my regular workouts,’” says Chris Muller, Associate Director of Campus Recreation at the University of Texas at Arlington. “Recreation Movement is that extra motivation we all need whether you’re taking a class from your own institution, another institution across the country, or recreating on your own. We are truly all in this together,” says Chris.
See what participants are saying
“The 2020 Recreation Movement has brought our department together like never before. Sure, we’ve collaborated together on other initiatives and events as a department, but they have always been led by a division whether it be Rec Fitness, Adventure Programs, Marketing, or Competitive Sports. This initiative has been a department wide collaborative effort, everyone contributing, everyone engaging, a true Stanford Recreation & Wellness initiative,” says Bernardo Tapia, Associate Director, Communication and Engagement from Stanford Athletics, Recreation, and Wellness. He also shared some of the feedback he’s been getting from participants:
“It’s great to be able to take a break from your desk and stretch out or get your heart rate up right in your own working space. I am now taking a class or two every day where I was doing nothing before!”
“It’s a super opportunity to take some of the classes that might not have been offered near your on-campus work area or classes that you aren’t sure you could actually do or if you would enjoy. I was not a yoga person but am now taking every class offered. It’s fantastic!”
“The varied class times are perfect! There’ something for everyone!”
“The instructors are doing a fabulous job of presenting their classes via Zoom. It’s not always easy, I’m certain.”
“Thank you so much for making these classes available to us!! It is so appreciated!”
Check out the #RecAtHome and #RecMovement hashtags on your social media platforms to follow along.
About Riddle & Bloom
Riddle & Bloom is an IDEAS AND ACCESS agency that builds solutions for clients to reach and engage the ‘Next Generation’—Millennials and Gen Z, with a deep focus on 14-35-year-olds. These solutions include access points for brands to create meaningful relationships and engage with Millennial and Gen Z audiences. We know the solution is putting the audience first. We know the brands that win fans and win business are the ones that can tap into never-before-seen consumer behaviors and expectations with relevant, memorable experiences. Riddle & Bloom capabilities include campus activities and programs, experiential, consumer insights, digital and social media strategy, activations and e-commerce. We offer our brand clients unrivaled access through exclusive relationships with the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA), the National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS), NIRSA Leaders in Collegiate Recreation and State High School Athletic Associations. Clients have included Amazon, HBO, Microsoft, Comcast, Warner Brothers, Vera Bradley, Red Bull, Unilever, and Nestle For more information, visit: www.riddleandbloom.com
- For more information, please contact Emily Hughes, NIRSA’s Campus Activations Director
