Despite a longer-than-expected renovation, WashU’s club sports teams are taking advantage of the new South Campus fields. (Jun Ru Chen | Contributing Photographer)

When members of the club soccer, field hockey, rugby, ultimate frisbee, and lacrosse teams returned to their first practices of the 2025-2026 school year, they did so on WashU’s latest upgraded athletic facilities.

It may have taken an additional 10 days past the expected completion, but the South Campus fields have been finished and are now open. WashU acquired the South Campus fields, formerly Christian Brothers College High School located in the DeMun neighborhood of Clayton, more than 20 years ago. It now features a state-of-the-art turf field for club and recreational use.

Typically, turf fields should be redone every eight to 12 years. The South 40 fields were last upgraded over 10 years ago, and it was time for a refresh, according to Athletic Director Anthony Azama.

Not only did Azama want to make sure the field was “100% better” than what was there before, but he also wanted to stay in alignment with the University’s values, specifically as it pertained to “healthy excellence,” which has been made clear as a standard by Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Anna “Dr. G” Gonzalez.

“Unless you’ve been on a bad turf field, you don’t understand how great this turf field is,” Azama said. “If the case is made [for upgrades to facilities], then we’re not going to cut corners. We’re going to prioritize the student experience, as well as safety, as best we can.”

Along with scheduled club sports practices and games, part of the South Campus fields operate on a first-come, first-served basis. As such, it’s hard to tell the exact number of hours of operation that have been spent on the fields by WashU students, but given the frequent use of the fields, the project quickly made its way to the top of the list. 

For members of club sports teams, the response was positive, and the improvement was noticeable.

“You can definitely tell that they’re super high quality, and it’s exciting to play on a new field. So people are wanting to come to practice, to check it out,” senior Maeve Repking, president of the women’s club soccer team, said. “People are pretty happy with the University for putting that sort of money into club sports, because at a lot of other schools … they don’t get that kind of special attention from their university.”

While Azama and the Athletic Department’s responsibilities lie primarily around varsity sports, he was quick to mention how important club sports are to both his job and the WashU community.

“This structure is very similar to the Ivy League, where both recreation and athletics report to the athletic director. This allows us to reach a lot more students than just varsity athletes,” Azama said.

He hopes that the university’s investment in non-varsity athletes will help inspire more students to lead an active lifestyle. 

 “You go to some schools, [and athletic facilities are] about a pool, a gym, and weights. And I’m not sure if that speaks to all of our student body, but however people have to navigate through this four-year experience, I’m here for it.”