NIRSA welcomes GameTime as a new Diamond Partner! Diamond Partnership is the highest level of commitment an associate member can make to NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation. With values that align well with the Association, GameTime’s dedication to the NIRSA family, to research-based outdoor fitness, and to the health and wellbeing of today’s college students benefits the entire membership!

“We couldn’t be more excited about this new partnership with GameTime, especially as campus recreation departments are looking to support students who have taken their workouts outdoors because of the pandemic,” NIRSA Executive Director Pam Watts explains. “Even as buildings reopen, we’re hearing that many students want to stay outside. They say outdoor workouts have spiritually heightened their exercise experiences.”

With this exciting partnership, NIRSA members can look forward to education and thought leadership stemming from GameTime’s many years of research in outdoor fitness. GameTime has focused on helping communities live happier, healthier lives since 1929. The company started as a playground equipment manufacturer and they have a passion for helping children stay active and grow into healthy adults.

“Over the years, we’ve watched those same children head off to college and start families. We want to continue supporting their health and wellness goals through every stage of their life, so we create resources, programming, and products that integrate playful ways to stay fit in college and throughout adulthood,” explains GameTime Vice President of Marketing and Products Fred Wiechmann.

“We want to continue supporting their health and wellness goals through every stage of their life.”

The company recognizes that it can do more to help college-aged adults as they develop the habits they carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. Through their partnership with NIRSA and its members, GameTime hopes to learn more about what colleges and universities need most. They want to help find solutions to the challenges NIRSA members face. For example, how can your experiences and ideas shape the development of new outdoor fitness products for this generation and the next? What can we learn about maximizing indoor and outdoor space for health and fitness? What does the modern college campus need to make a lasting impact on the health of students and faculty? “The NIRSA family is the expert in these areas. As a part of the family, we want to learn all we can from the experts,” says Fred.

Campus recreation departments are experts at programming spaces and providing health and fitness training to students. What GameTime hopes to bring to them is some additional research and education from leading experts in the field, best practices from universities they’ve worked with, and insights from doctors in health physiology that they partner with. This research helps campuses design fitness spaces that meet specific programming and training goals.

“We recognize how hard campus recreation teams work to provide safe, effective, and challenging fitness environments for students and faculty. We’ve aligned our goals and objectives as a team to provide some personalized help and support options,” says Fred.

He adds, “Our parent company PlayCore provides CEU webinars and workshops through their Center for Outreach, Research and Education. They also manage a nationwide data framework to analyze how outdoor fitness spaces are utilized and the impact they make on the community. Combined with GameTime’s selection of unmatched, research-based outdoor fitness products, along with decades of expertise in designing spaces, we help colleges attract students and make exercise a part of daily life.”

GameTime is very aware of the current landscape of higher ed and campus recreation. It knows the world overall looks very different today. “Right now, there are nearly 20 million students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. A national survey found that almost 40% of those students are dealing with anxiety, depression, and other emotional challenges. We know that fitness can be a part of that solution, and we want to help deliver it to people where they live,” says Fred.

GameTime wants to apply what it knows and support healthy adults today and tomorrow. “We are ready to do what is necessary to help students live their best life,” says Fred. “No one knows this group of people better than NIRSA and its members, and together we can truly make a lasting impact.”

“We are ready to do what is necessary to help students live their best life.”

Leonardo da Vinci said, “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

About GameTime

A NIRSA associate member and exhibitor since 2018, GameTime offers outdoor fitness and recreation solutions for every campus. The company’s innovative products provide meaningful experiences for play and physical activity for all ages, levels, and abilities. While rooted in play, GameTime’s history goes back to Parcourse—the outdoor fitness system consisting of obstacles and outdoor exercise equipment along a path or trail. Parcourse systems were designed with guidance from the fields of cardiology, therapeutic recreation, and exercise physiology to be beneficial to all areas of physical development and fitness. Since then, GameTime has introduced a number of innovations in the outdoor fitness space. From dynamic playground equipment to research-based outdoor fitness structures to intergenerational challenge courses, GameTime delivers recreational spaces designed for active, inclusive, accessible fitness and play.