Basketball court damaged from fitness event

The basketball court at the U.S. Century Bank Arena will be out of commission for some time after taking on some heavy damage during a fitness event last weekend.

But the arena was not the first option for the event.

RAID Games VI, which was not licensed by CrossFit despite their website’s description, rented out the arena for an event which drew hundreds of athletes for the annual competition. Unfortunately for the court, it suffered significant dents and scratches throughout. According to the Athletics Department, the event was insured, but it forced the volleyball team’s match Wednesday to be moved out of the arena.

A statement was released Monday afternoon that read, “As a result of an outside event held at FIU Arena this past weekend, the court was damaged. The event was fully insured. We anticipate repairs being complete over the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the Sept. 17 volleyball match between FIU and Florida Atlantic will be affected and will be played at the FIU Rec Center.”

Organizers from Raid Games VI had previously gone to the Rec Center in hopes of hosting the event there, but were ultimately turned down after concerns arose to the protection of the indoor courts.

“They came to the Rec Center first to request our courts and we said ‘No,'” said Rec Center employee Kyle Pineda. “My boss knew it would gash up the floor. We just resurfaced it before the semester and weren’t willing to do that.”

Andres Aleman, a competitor in the event, said, “It was an accident waiting to happen.”

“[It was] the worst competition I’ve been to,” he said. “Terrible judging, inconsistent judging, unqualified judges. I’m not surprised the floor got destroyed. I don’t know why they were allowed to do it. They should not have done a max out event there.”

Moises Romero, another competitor in the event, took to Instagram to post a video of himself dropping a kettle ball onto the padded court and leaving a caption on the video mocking the fact that he was damaging it. “Me [expletive] up the FIU basketball arena, your welcome #fiu #gopanthers.”

911 CrossFit and Da Factory hosted the two-day event.

The Lime Court at the U.S. Century Bank Arena suffered heavy damage after a fitness event, last weekend.

According to Derek Fields, a spokesperson for CrossFit Inc, the Raid Games VI was in fact not a CrossFit event. “CrossFit Inc. licenses affiliate gyms around the world, including 911 CrossFit, to use our name in their gym name,” he said in an email to Student Media. “We do not, however, license our affiliate gyms to host or sponsor “CrossFit competitions”. CrossFit affiliate gym owners are all independent business owners; we do not operate franchises or control affiliates beyond the legal terms of our affiliate licensing agreement.”

On the event’s website, the Raid Games VI was described as, “A CrossFit competition open to ELITE, and recreational athletes everywhere, challenges the will to win by measuring and exposing one’s true work capacity in the sport of fitness.”

The Lime Court was protected by a padding which was intended to take on the full force from the athletes and their equipment, but was not enough to take on the impact from such weights being dropped from several feet high.

“They had padding on the floor, but the space was limited,” said Aleman. “People were walking and dropping the weights from over their heads. I’m not surprised.”

Since the court is closed, the men’s basketball team and the volleyball team are forced to use practice courts located in the arena as a backup.

There is no exact timetable as to when the court will be ready for competition.

Photo courtesy: Kyle Pineda