Turf Wars: The Battle for Indoor Space throughout Winter Months

by Taylor Roby

The fieldhouse facility on Concordia’s campus provides an expansive space for athletic teams to create optimal practice opportunities. The Walz Human Performance Complex and Fieldhouse was finished in 2010. 

The expansion of the complex and fieldhouse, named after former Concordia President Orville C. Walz, houses a two hundred meter indoor track with a multipurpose infield. The sports that take advantage of this space include all track events, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, baseball, and softball.

 “During this time of the year, there are multiple sports competing for practice time in the fieldhouse,” said Junior thrower Carley Skorepa. “As we prepare for conference we are having to adjust times which can be stressful at times.” 

Through the long winter months and cold temperatures, many teams are cooped up inside and unable to practice outdoors. The fieldhouse is the only space large enough to accommodate these athletes’ specific needs. This high demand has made scheduling practice times much more difficult. 

“For the past couple weeks, we have been practicing at the times of 6a.m.-8a.m. or 9p.m.-11p.m. and sometimes both in a day,” tennis player Alison Ebel said. “It has been hard to schedule times for practice so we either practice really early in the morning or late at night. This has made my sleep schedule difficult because it usually takes awhile to wind down at night, and then we have early practices again in the morning. On top of all the athletic traffic going through this building, the fieldhouse is also open to the public for recreational use on weekdays from 6-9 a.m., 11 a.m.-1 p.m., and 7:30-9 p.m.

 The addition to Walz has had a tremendous impact on students, faculty, the community and athletics at Concordia. The goal of the addition was to provide first-class space and exceptional facilities for Concordia’s Athletic Programs. 

“The fieldhouse is a huge space that can be beneficial for a variety of activities,” softball player Madalynn Fousek said. “It’s a great facility and we are able to find a balance of sharing it with the other sports teams.”

It is hard to imagine how teams managed practice prior to these facilities. Though scheduling can be difficult, we are blessed to have this problem considering the Walz Human Performance Complex and Fieldhouse stands among the finest facilities of its kind for any university of Concordia’s size.