I sprained my knee in soccer try-outs my first year, and spent a lot of that year in the pool and the athletic trainers' office. (I didn't swim laps again for over 20 years, I was so sick of it!)

The next year they had done away with JV soccer and I didn't make the varsity team, so I played some intramural soccer and spent a lot of time in the weight room over the rest of my undergraduate years.

I took a semester (or two?) of fencing just as a lark.

I did a bit of recreational cycling and jogging then, but didn't really discover cycling as a sport until after college - and as far as becoming a runner, you've seen that happen here. When I was in law school, we were kind of an entity unto ourselves on the edge of a big university campus, and I don't think I set foot in that gym. I rode a lot in those days, both for recreation and transportation, but that was my only cardio and I wasn't doing any strength work then.

I think the funding question really depends on the school. If varsity sports bring in millions of dollars of TV money, then my opinion is that that money should go first toward athletic programs, both for the unprofitable varsity sports and for the recreational and intramural facilities. Sometimes with smaller schools, even though they don't have popular/successful Division I teams, the varsity sports support big alumni donations, and I feel pretty much the same way about that. But, if the athletic facilities aren't financially self-sustaining, then I totally agree that all students should have to pay for them, just as they pay for the buildings they don't have any classes in, or the professors in departments where they never take classes.