Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Facilities Receive Significant Facelift
8/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 26, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Throughout the summer, Northwestern has been in the midst of significant upgrades to its football practice and personnel facilities to ensure that NU student-athletes can maximize their performance on and off the field. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald has helped oversee the installation of FieldTurf to the team's indoor practice facility, improvements to the team's weight training and meeting rooms as well as the creation of a new players' lounge in the locker room.
"There have been some major improvements within our facilities since last fall," Fitzgerald said. "What we are most excited about is that all four of these upgrades, from the weight room to the FieldTurf to the new lounge, are improvements that benefit our players directly, and that was really our first concern."
The Kirby-Flanagan Indoor Practice Room recently saw its AstroTurf surface ripped out in favor of a new state-of-the-art FieldTurf surface intended to be easier on players' bodies during training. The team already trains regularly on an outdoor FieldTurf practice facility adjacent to Ryan Field.
Additionally, crews are just wrapping up a complete renovation to the team's weight room.
"Our new weight room is a hugely important asset to our team and it is second-to-none in the Big Ten Conference," Fitzgerald said.
While the football program moved its operations to Camp Kenosha during the second week in August, Northwestern took the opportunity to make improvements to the team's meeting rooms and surprised the players by installing a players' lounge in the locker room complete with a flat-screen TV, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3.
"Our coaches now have top-rate teaching environments in which they can hold meetings," Fitzgerad said. "and there is no mistake that our players have been taking full advantage of all that the new players' lounge has to offer."
