Volume 5, No. 12

West Side Training Facility Takes Top Priority   By Rusty Burson

      A new west campus athletic complex has gone from being at the top of Texas A&M’s wish list to the actual design phase. If all goes as planned, completion of the facility could occur as soon as the start of the 2002-03 school year.

      The new facility, the first priority being addressed by The Championship Vision Capital Campaign, will be located at the Aggie Softball Complex. Arlington-based VLK Architects is handling the design of the new facility, which is desperately needed for a variety of reasons.

      "It’s a real Title IX issue for us, but it’s also more than that," said Penny King. Texas A&M’s senior associate athletic director/business. "It’s an issue of fairness and doing the right thing for the teams on that side of the campus. It’s something that absolutely needs to be addressed."

      The new facility will feature locker rooms for softball, soccer, men’s and women’s track and men’s and women’s cross country. It will also feature auxiliary coaches offices, officials dressing, visiting team dressing room and meeting rooms.

      The current facilities on the west campus — especially those for female athletes — are inadequate, to say the least.

      "This facility is needed desperately," A&M athletic director Wally Groff said. "We currently have our female athletes using the same restroom facilities as the general public. That’s obviously not a good situation. But we’re very excited about the new facility and what it will mean to those sports that use it."

      The facility should give numerous sports a shot in the arm in terms of recruiting. It will also be a major benefit in terms of convenience.

      Currently, all of Texas A&M’s athletes are using the training facility at Kyle Field. But the new west campus facility will feature training rooms for all of the athletes who practice and play to the west of Wellborn Road.

      "We’ll have training rooms over there for all the sports on the west campus — men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s track and field, cross country, baseball, as well the women’s soccer and softball," King said. "Basketball has a small training room they use, but if it were anything serious or happened during a time that basketball was not open, those athletes could use the west campus facility, too.

      "It’s going to be wonderful. We’re all really excited. We’re very anxious, for a variety of reasons, to get the west campus facility up and going. I know the coaches are, too."

      Once construction actually begins, it is estimated that the project can be completed in 14 months.

      Like the $26.5 million south end zone football complex and academic center, funding for the $4.5 million west campus facility must be in place before construction can begin.

BASKETBALL TICKETS

      Basketball season is approaching quickly, with the home opener for the men’s team on Nov. 20 and the opening game for the women at Reed Arena slated for Nov. 28.

      The 2000-01 season promises to be an exciting one for the Aggies. In preseason publications, the men’s team has been picked higher than at any other time since the start of the Big 12. Led by the return of co-Big 12 Freshman of the Year Bernard King and newcomers like Nick Anderson and Keith Bean, A&M could be one of the surprise teams in the league.

      Now is the best time to reserve your season tickets for all the action and excitement of Big 12 basketball. Call the 12th Man Foundation today at 1-888-TAM-12TH or 979/846-8892 for ticket purchases or information.

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