If you walk the halls of Fuqua, you may occasionally overhear students grumble about the so-called ‘Fuqua Fifteen’—a phenomenon where MBA students gain a few, err, extra pounds at business school.

This isn’t entirely unexpected. The change in routine, greater number of social events to attend, and the delicious Southern food you’re surrounded with are all culprits for weight gain faced by students. However, in my experience Fuquans do a great job of staying fit and active throughout their first and second year.

Facilities

The gym and running facilities on campus are second to none. The Wilson Recreation Center, which is located on West Campus and just a few minutes’ walk from Fuqua, offers almost every cardio and weight machine you can dream of, an indoor running track, an Olympic-sized pool, group fitness classes, and squash and racket ball courts. The Brodie Recreation Center on East Campus is a little closer to where many students choose to live and offers a lot of the same features as the main gym. It would be remiss of me not to mention that it has more than a dozen state-of-the-art tennis courts, all of which are surrounded by a beautiful two-mile running path.

Clubs and Events

Several sports clubs are active on campus and provide more options for staying fit. To name just a few: the Running & Triathlon Club organizes group runs and events in which many Fuquans choose to participate. A highlight of my first year was running the Tar Heel Ten Miler in Chapel Hill with approximately 60 classmates and our Daytime Dean, Russ Morgan, who generously hosted all of us at his house for breakfast afterwards (in spite of the sweat).

If running is not your thing and you prefer organized team sports, you won’t be short of opportunities. The Tennis Club organizes an annual tournament where the six different student sections compete across both the first-year and second-year classes to determine the winning team. The Rugby Club hosts a large tournament once a year in Durham where rugby teams from other schools —even as far away as London Business School—travel to our neck of the woods to participate. Fuqua Hoops plays basketball games against other schools and recently traveled up to Washington, D.C., for a tournament.

A highlight of the spring calendar is Blue Cup—a friendly tournament between Fuqua and UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School just down the road. The two business schools compete across almost every category of sport, including soccer, golf, tennis, running, and cornhole (yes really!). The tournament represents a great opportunity to expand your network beyond Fuqua.

The ‘Fuqua Fifteen’ may be real but there are countless opportunities on campus to break a sweat, stay fit, and make some new friends while you’re at it.