Indiana University Dedicates IU Athletics Excellence Academy
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Image: IUHoosiers.com
IU Athletics Release
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie presided over the dedication of the IU Athletics Excellence Academy Friday afternoon. This state-of-the-art facility provides a home for the Excellence Academy program, which is one of the most innovative and effective personal development programs in all of intercollegiate athletics. The $48 million, 66,575 square foot facility encloses the south end zone of Memorial Stadium and creates a bold new “front door” to the IU Athletics campus.
McRobbie and Indiana University Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass led this afternoon's dedication ceremony which took place in the Tobias Nutrition Center. Other speakers at the event included the Senior Woman Administrator and Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services and the Excellence Academy Mattie White, head football coach Tom Allen, benefactor Randall L. Tobias, as well as students Brenna Wise (women’s basketball) and J-Shun Harris (football).
“The dedication of the Excellence Academy emphatically underscores Indiana University’s deep commitment to a comprehensive approach to student athlete development, one that equips student athletes for success in college and for successful lives and careers in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century,” McRobbie said. “This facility will be a key component of IU’s Student Athlete Development Program as well as a wonderful facility for new multi-purpose events that will support all of IU’s students.”
“This is a defining and rewarding day as we dedicate the IU Athletics Excellence Academy,” Glass said. “Indiana University is committed to the academic, athletic and personal development of our students who compete in intercollegiate athletics. The conception and completion of this project shows those are more than just words.
“This facility sets Indiana University apart when it comes to our commitment to the health, wellness and holistic development of our student-athletes. I am thrilled for our department, the University, and most of all our students that this day has come.”
“As is typically the case in life, what you dream about tends to be much different than what occurs in reality,” White said. “My dreams were never able to truly capture the synergy that I witness daily in this facility, the energy that exudes from our students as they engage in this new space and the sense of pride that individuals like me feel each time we open the door to one of the intentionally designed and uniquely crafted spaces that makes up this Excellence Academy facility.”
The Indiana University Athletics Excellence Academy is the foundation of IU Athletics' promise to its students. It offers them comprehensive support with the use of cutting-edge technology; protects their health, safety and wellness; maximizes their athletic potential; helps them develop leadership and life skills; and builds a culture of trust and respect. The academy is a living embodiment of IU's Student-Athlete Bill of Rights – an environment where IU Athletics can serve its scholars in mind, body and spirit, while preparing them to be successful in life outside the university.
There are two centers located on field level of the IU Athletics Excellence Academy that will serve as the student-athlete destination for complete wellness.
The Dr. Lawrence D. Rink Center for Sports Medicine and Technology is home to the Irsay Family Wellness Center, the Center for Elite Athlete Development as well as the Rehabilitation and Treatment Center. These facilities provide comprehensive physical and mental healthcare for IU student-athletes with physician offices, psychologist and nutritionist offices, exam rooms, diagnostic equipment, a hydrotherapy treatment room, and the like; all-inclusive space and equipment to help prevent, diagnose, rehabilitate and treat injuries to student-athletes; and research and technology to apply science to the development of champion student-athletes. Occupying 21,446 square feet, the Center is seven times the size of the department’s previous training facility.
The new Rehabilitation and Treatment Center offers three times the space as the previous athletic training room. Included in its nearly 10,000 square feet of space are four hot and cold tubs, a lap pool and an underwater treadmill. In addition, IU’s student-athletes and medical professionals will have the very latest in diagnostic equipment and the like at their disposal to help prevent, diagnose, rehabilitate and treat injuries.
Cutting-edge technology, research and education are the focus of the Center for Elite Athlete Development space designed to help IU student-students reach their highest athletic potential. The Center will zero in on cardiovascular testing, diagnosis and research; neuro-cognitive issues; visual research and training; bio-mechanical monitoring and sleep, rest and recovery education.
The Irsay Family Wellness Center aids in the physical and mental well-being of the nearly 650 students that participate in 24 varsity sports at Indiana. Occupying 11,937 square feet of space, it houses exam rooms, x-ray machines, procedure rooms, physician offices, sports psychologist offices, a nutrition office and a consultation room.
The second center on field level is the Hancock Hiltunen Caito Center for Leadership and Life Skills, offering multi-purpose space and offices dedicated to leadership development, service learning, and career development for students who participate in intercollegiate athletics at IU. It includes the Bade Family Career Counseling Center, the Frank and Linda Hancock Activity Room and the Glass Family Leadership Suite.
The Bade Family Career Counseling Center is a dedicated space for resources to assist students in the career development process. Its features include an interview room and a full-time professional staff member dedicated to the Career Counseling Center. The Center’s resources are available to both current and former Indiana University student-athletes.
The Frank and Linda Hancock Activity Room enhances the programming provided to our student-athletes, and in turn promotes student success.
The Glass Family Leadership Suite is made possible by a gift from Indiana University Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass and his wife Barbara. The Glass Family Leadership Suite provides a venue for important student leadership programming. It includes dedicated space for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), an NCAA-sponsored group of IU student-athletes who work closely with the IU athletic administration on student-related concerns and issues.
The concourse-level main entrance to the IU Athletics Excellence Academy will lead to the second floor of the facility. This space features three named areas: Miller Plaza, the Tobias Nutrition Center and the Joe & Shelly Schwarz President’s Suite.
Serving as the new “front door” to the IU Athletics campus, Miller Plaza is a beautifully landscaped outdoor space on the south end of Memorial Stadium that also serves as the entry point to the Excellence Academy. Featuring crisscrossing brick pathways and twin towers similar to those in the North End Zone Facility, Miller Plaza mirrors many of the features that make Indiana University’s campus one of nation’s most beautiful.
The Tobias Nutrition Center is a state-of-the-art nutrition facility and dining space that serves lunch and dinner five days a week with a daily breakfast oasis for students. Service is in a food station concept with six main options: salad, deli and soup bar; sandwich shoppe; pizza and pasta corner; home/comfort foods; all-American Grill; and Presentation station. Menu items are prepared fresh on site by dining staff at each station. On gamedays, the Tobias Nutrition Center will serve as a hospitality area for the IU Varsity Club’s Hoosier Hundred, Athlete, Scholar, and Champion donors. With 14,743 square feet of dedicated kitchen and dining space, it nearly doubles the size of the previous dining location.
Adjacent to the Tobias Nutrition Center is a multi-function space, the Joe and Shelly Schwarz President’s Suite. This state-of-the-art suite will offer much-needed space for team meals, recruiting functions, team meetings and other team-related events and activities on non-game days. On gamedays, it will feature premium catering and a wonderful view of Memorial Stadium.
In addition to radically improving the student-athlete experience at Indiana, the IU Athletics Excellence Academy will greatly enhance the fan experience for the public on football gamedays. Located on the terrace level, Sample Terrace will be open to all ticket-holders. Offering a beautiful, unobstructed view of Memorial Stadium, the terrace will be a key part of our family friendly football Saturdays. Among its inviting features is Knothole Park at Sample Terrace presented by Aggressively Organic. The next iteration of the Knothole Park Legacy, it includes free Chocolate Moose ice cream for 12-and-under “Knothole Club” members, as well as a 3-D selfie station, mini-quarterback throwing game, mini-field goal kicking game, IU face painting booth, and stadium concessions.