The school's emphasis on a well-rounded education included ample opportunities for rigorous exercise: ball fields, rinks and courts, and later the gymnasium surrounded the building. Popular sports included "Association football as well as rugby, where the rules of that day were not so restricted as they are to day, were modified by the good moral atmosphere-for the most part-of the college." The athletic program was not merely extracurricular: "It the chief aim of...the teachers to encourage in students a love of outside exercise, and no pains [would be spared by the Committee to make this a prominent feature of the institution, so that the health of the students may be secured in the best possible way, viz. by fresh air and outdoor recreation."