After working out, students can purchase Gatorade at Southwest Recreation Center.
Vending machines selling Propel, Gatorade products and Aquafina water for $1.50 each were installed by PepsiCo and the Gatorade company in the gym’s lobby at the beginning of October, said Jason Richards, the Student Government external affairs director. Students can bring Gatorade and other drinks in containers with caps into the gym. Previously, they could only bring water.
“We’ve heard so much that students wanted something other than water in the gym,” he said.
SG, RecSports and the business services division of UF Business Affairs collaborated to place the machine in the gym, he said. It was installed at no cost to SG.
The lemon-lime Gatorade flavor is the only one being sold, but different flavors will be offered as demand changes, Richards said. More machines on campus may be added in the future.
“If students really care about it a lot, we can look at other locations,” he said.
Matthew Howald, a UF civil engineering fifth-year student, said he usually goes to Southwest Rec every weekday but didn’t know about the rule forbidding any drink but water.
Howald, 22, said he sits near the vending machine when he does homework.
“I associated (the machine) with the Freshens market over there,” he said. “I don’t usually drink that much Gatorade, but I definitely am not opposed to being able to have it in the gym.”