The green turf on the new sports performance center stretches out in front of the new racks. (Photo by Elle Su | Student Life)

When junior softball player Emily Talkow first saw the newly unveiled Washington University Sports Performance Center (SPC) facility, her mind was blown. 

“My reaction to seeing the new Sports Performance Center felt like a kid in a candy store,” she said. “The attention to details truly blew me away. When [the softball team] walked in there, we made a video for our alumni to showcase it.”

The new SPC has it all. It contains personalized weights with WashU logos. It is equipped with Perch technologies that utilize cameras to track sets, reps, peak power, mean power, eccentric mean velocity and eccentric time, peak velocity, and mean velocity. It’s installed with a state-of-the-art desiccant wheel air conditioning system. A 30-by-5-yard turf flooring area has a WashU logo on it. But more importantly, the SPC is filled with excited and determined WashU student-athletes — many of whom have been waiting for this moment since their first days on WashU’s campus.

If one didn’t know that WashU athletics competed in NCAA Division III, they might put the SPC in the same league as the training facilities of NCAA Division I programs around the country. 

But again, this was the look that the university was going for anyway.

Last Wednesday morning, Director of Athletics, Anthony J. Azama, unveiled the long-awaited 7,000-square foot SPC facility,  located within the existing athletic complex, to the campus community. Initially, the facility was billed to open in the fall of 2022.  However, delayed construction pushed the opening to the winter.  

Alongside Azama at the unveiling ceremony was Chancellor Andrew D. Martin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Anna Gonzalez. The completion of the SPC is a demonstration of Martin and Gonzalez’s commitment to an idea of “healthy excellence.” But more specifically, it is evident of Azama’s vision to brand WashU — a Division III university — with the tools and space of a Division I program in the hopes of elevating WashU athletics programs through modernized training practices and recruitment. 

“It’s going to be great for attracting recruits,” said sophomore men’s soccer player Eugene Heger. “I think that’s definitely a big part of it. Any recruit is going to want to see what the gym is looking…now… that we’ve got a state of the art [facility].”

It’s not just student-athletes who see the positive the SPC will have on future recruitment but also the people who do the actual recruiting.

“You better believe that we’re going to use…this…as a recruiting pitch,” said baseball head coach Pat Bloom last spring when the plan for the SPC was announced by the University Athletic department. “Ultimately, things like that — they’re not just a nice showpiece. They also tend to attract the type of kids who really want to get the most out of their athletics experience. It sends a message to the kids that athletics really matters here.” 

And from the student-athletes that are already here, it looks like the message that the University wants to send about its commitment to athletic experience has been well received. 

Bradley Hamilton is a senior defensive back on football. Among the many WashU student-athletes who have been waiting for the SPC unveiling since their first day on campus, he is grateful for it and states that it was awesome to see the space. 

“I was really ecstatic,” he said. “To be able to see the kind of progress the university has made towards improving the experience for our student-athletes was just really awesome to see come through.”

But it’s not just Hamilton. Other WashU student-athletes across a range of teams expressed their gratitude to the school and those involved in completing the SPC project for the university campus community. “[The SPC] goes to show that athletics has a lot of faith in us, [and] that the athletics really cares about us enough to give such a high caliber of equipment,” said senior Abayomi Awoyomi, a long jumper for the track & field team. “I think once athletes get used to the space and feel that trust in that empowerment that we’ve gotten from athletics, we’d be like, you know, even more empowered to do better. And all of the areas of the sports that we do.”

“From fundraising to first breaking ground for the new Sports Performance Center, this space is the result of years of tireless work and planning by an array of leaders across the athletic department and university,” said sophomore student Jasmine Sells of the WashU volleyball team. “We feel extremely fortunate to have this facility to maximize our performance and enhance our development as student-athletes. I am beyond excited to utilize the new equipment.”

Another member of the volleyball team, sophomore McKenzie Washington, also concurred with Sells’ gratitude to the athletic department.

“The team was very glad to see the new weight room and we are excited to be able to train in such a great room with all the resources we need,” she said. “I can see that a lot of work went into this space, and I am thankful for all the effort that was put in. It was definitely worth the wait, and when I first heard a new facility was being made, I never could have pictured this.”

For many WashU student-athletes, there is a lot to celebrate about the SPC. But out of everything the new facility has to offer, the square footage of the facility is one of its biggest benefits. WashU sports teams have long had to lift and train with other sports as a means of accommodating hectic training and lift schedules. In the smaller space, student-athletes reported having to work out in a “super crowded” space that made it “hard to get the weights” that they wanted. But the SPC changes all that.

“The golf team was elated to have a new space to workout in,” said junior golfer Caraline Oakley, who leads the Student Athlete Advisory Committee’s health and wellness committee. “Since we are a smaller team, we tend to workout alongside a larger team. We are glad that this space is bigger and will allow us to efficiently workout alongside another team.”

But despite the incredible buzz surrounding the SPC, it’s important to remember that under the leadership of Azama and Gonzalez, there is more to it than just showcasing the university commitment to athletics. Since her inauguration as WashU Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Gonzalez has partnered with Azama to sell an idea of “healthy excellence”, including well-being and students’ mental health.

“These past two years, WashU athletics has clearly invested time and funds into both our physical and mental health,” said Talkow. “With people like Alicia Watson, softball’s sports performance coach, we are surrounded by such positive, motivating figures who inspire us to be the best athletes we can be.”

The new SPC has WashU student-athletes talking, and for good reasons. But as student-athletes first and foremost, they are ready to get to work and start getting in the gains in their new home. 

“I love to work out in general, but this space makes me even more excited to work out,” said Oakley. “There is a culture throughout the athletic department where we give our lifts our all. We want to see gains. This new space will help us get there.”

“While a beautiful sports performance center itself doesn’t mean we will automatically win every game, it demonstrates that we have the support from the athletics department, which is invaluable,” said Talkow. “At WashU, we have the opportunity to compete at such a high level and now we also get the chance to train at the highest level.”