As the school year begins, renovations continue on the Angela Athletic Facility on Saint Mary’s campus.
Julie Schroeder-Biek, director of athletics at Saint Mary’s, said the the facility will include a three-court field house for varsity teams, club sports practices and other student activities. There will also be an elevated track and dedicated spaces for yoga, pilates, spinning and other fitness classes. The new facility will also house a cafe and social area for meeting with friends and the Health and Counseling Center.
The facility is projected to be fully completed in January of 2018, Schroeder-Biek said, but students and faculty will be able to start using the new building before that time.
“Right now it is limited to volleyball, but I’m trying to figure out how to do some open gyms coming up soon,” she said. “But there [are] a couple details they are still working out.”
These new additions to the athletic facility will include a golf room and physical education classrooms, Schroeder-Biek said.
“We’re going to have three classrooms,” she said. “The two bigger classrooms will be available for yoga, Zumba, barre, the high-intensity training classes and boot camp training classes. There is one smaller room that’s for spin.”
Renovations will also include new locker rooms, which Schroeder-Biek said is an improvement on the one locker room varsity athletic teams shared with opponents in the past.
“We will have team locker rooms upstairs and the campus community will have real locker rooms to use as well,” she said. “And there [are] three of them, so one of them we can close off when we have a visiting team.”
While the facility is primarily intended to serve as a place for students to work out, Schroeder-Biek said it will also feature a cafe with a healthy menu where students and faculty can grab coffee, socialize and study.
“It’s going to be a building for everyone, not just athletics,” Schroeder-Biek said. “The cafe will have nice outdoor seating. It’s very exciting — I feel like it’s going to be more of a student center. There is going to be lounge space everywhere — there is a viewing area and TV space.”
Gabriela Diamond, a senior on the Saint Mary’s basketball team, said she is very excited for the renovations to the Angela Athletic Facility.
“[I am] probably most excited to have more space,” she said in an email. “It is much needed. Any athlete will tell you that having one small locker room and hosting other teams has been very tough. I am excited to see how these renovations draw in other Belles. I think it is going to become a huge part of our campus that will draw even more support for our athletic teams and for future students, which would be amazing.”
Schroeder-Biek said the facility is going to include a strength area, a cardio area and a larger indoor running track, as well as enough space for multiple sports teams to practice at once. These facilities will be complete upon students’ return after winter break, she said.
“Next semester — when you guys return — all the fitness equipment will be in, and the lounges should be set up,” Schroeder-Biek said. “And that is what we are aiming for.”
