The importance of stand alone Facilities

Lets talk about the importance of a university having their own facilities. When you are searching for a university you want to compete for, it would seem obvious that the school would have their own facility. Why would a school offer basketball without a gym or baseball without a baseball field? For track and field that isn’t always the case.

Over the last several years, universities have started adding sports like track and field to help increase enrollment and have neglected to add facilities. This is fine, when the program only consists of Distance athletes from cross country, but creates several issues once you add in sprints, jumps, and throws.

Universities have also started striking deals with local high schools to use their facilities. This sounds like a great alternative to building their own facility, however, the schools often fail to upgrade runways, install netting, or other requirements needed for a safe and functional collegiate facility. Another issue that arises from using a different school’s facility is how restrictive the agreement is. This can range from being able to use it anytime a competition isn’t taking place, to only being able to use it late at night or early in the day, which can prevent the coach(es) from giving the proper instruction to all athletes.

We believe that college and universities that do not have a track facility on campus and do offer track and field is hurting the long term growth of the athletes and the sport. If a university does not have a stand alone facility, we would advise the prospective college student-athlete to look elsewhere.