As the senior associate director of University Recreation, Puntieri’s responsibilities include supervising intramural sports and implementing new fitness programs.
Kristen Puntieri wants to help you connect with your active self, recover from a strenuous activity or release any bottled up stress and tension.
As the senior associate director of University Recreation, Puntieri’s responsibilities range from maximizing utilization of the courts at the Marino Center, managing the development of recreation programs on the many Northeastern campuses and implementing new fitness programs.
Puntieri, who graduated from the Bouve College of Health Sciences with a master’s degree in exercise physiology, has been in her current role for three years and has worked at Northeastern for 21 years.
During those two decades, she has seen soccer and cricket surpass flag football as popular intramural sports. She has seen a growing demand for badminton and volleyball on the courts at Marino. And meeting the national trend, she made sure pickleball has a space in the fitness center.
Puntieri recently spoke with Northeastern Global News about her role in University Recreation.
A typical day can vary depending on the time of the year. Generally speaking, it’s driving the goals of the department, evaluating facility and program participation, and checking in with the team. Participation is expansive and quite a bit can happen in a short period of time, therefore, closing the loop on issues that arise is important for operational consistency.
My favorite part of the job is being in such close proximity to the students and being able to see what they enjoy and what matters most to them. Observing and learning from them over the years has given me great perspective in this role and in other areas of my life.
Share a perk or place to visit!
I think many people are aware of the volume of participation we have, but they may not know that our programs are spread across seven different venues here in Boston and as the university has grown, we’ve started to employ at least one University Recreation student employee across each of our campuses. This is in efforts to build a recreation community across the entire Northeastern system.
The weight room followed closely by the courts, those are the two busiest areas of the Marino Center.
The short answer is the one you can consistently commit to that aligns with your goals. What I would recommend is spending some time doing mobility and stretching work, perhaps even disconnecting from wearable technology, and listening to relaxing music. This will help to discover where you are holding stress and tension and is great for you both physically and emotionally.
Is that a trick question? I think for an urban campus it is quite picturesque. I enjoy the pond and sculpture area around Curry, but in recent years my favorite is the view of all the activity on and around Carter Field. From the fourth-floor fitness area at SquashBusters you can get a bird’s-eye view of that and a great skyline view.
I like to read and play golf. Although most of my free time now is spent with my family and 7-year-old. Watching him grow and develop his own interests and skills is so exciting, particularly when it’s something new he has conquered. He started piano lessons last year and listening to him practice has been a joy … and thankfully, he wasn’t interested in learning the drums!