In response to the closing of The Alley on Hillsborough Street, NC State has canceled all in-person bowling classes for the spring semester and will be offering an online section of the class instead.
Thomas Roberts, professor emeritus of Health and Exercise Studies (HES) at NC State, spoke on behalf of the curriculum change. According to Roberts, HES had 12 in-person sections of bowling, totaling 384 seats scheduled for spring 2017 that have been canceled. The distance-education bowling class, HESS 243-601, offers only 34 spaces to students for the upcoming spring semester, nearly one-hundredth the original student capacity.
“We learned of the pending closing of The Alley much too late to explore other venue options for next semester,” Roberts said. “We may be in a position to offer bowling next fall, provided we can find a suitable location that serves our students’ needs and can arrange faculty for these classes in time for registration in mid-March.”
Students enrolled in the online class will have to find alternative locations to practice bowling skills. As with other online NC State physical education classes, students will take an in-person skills assessment at the end of the semester as part of their final grade, according to Roberts.
“There will be no curriculum changes in our bowling class because of a venue change,” Roberts said. “The obvious change for students will be the need to travel to a new location rather than walk across Hillsborough Street for class.”
When asked, many students did not focus on the location change. Rather, they were more concerned with the learning style and structure of the class, preferring hands-on learning and evaluation over distance learning.
“It seems very impractical,” said Joel Caruthers, a sophomore studying civil engineering. “For bowling, it seems like it would be better to be graded in the classroom.”
Maya Hoon, a sophomore studying foreign languages and literature, commented that some upperclassmen who have previously taken the class are disappointed with the loss of The Alley, preferring the location’s nostalgia. Nevertheless, she noted that underclassmen would not have much reason to miss the location.
“If it were a 100-level class, then the change would affect a lot of students since they already don’t offer a lot of those,” Hoon said. “I’m personally OK with there being a Target. The university already offers many 200-level PE courses.”
Roberts expressed hope that the university will be able to find another location for bowling classes in the near future, but finding a bowling alley near the university and providing ample transportation will be difficult, given students’ complex schedules.
“Our faculty are supportive of offering HES bowling classes at a new venue,” Roberts said. “We’ve had high enrollment, engaging instruction and positive student feedback each semester; we’d prefer to continue offering these classes. AMF South Hills Lanes in Cary is probably the closest venue for future classes and they have expressed an initial interest in working with us.”
Meanwhile, Roberts will be working with other HES staff to determine the future of the course following the spring 2017 semester, focusing on making the class practical for students to take in future years. Because of the popular demand for the class, he aims to reach a decision before the end of the spring semester.
“We hope to have an answer within the next few months,” Roberts said. “Whatever the new location, we will work to keep logistics (travel, costs, day/time options, etc.) as user-friendly as possible.”
