St. John Arena, built in 1956, is an iconic albeit outdated arena. Ohio State plans to solve that with three new facilities in its planned Athletics District.
The Covelli Center, a 3,700-seat arena will serve volleyball, gymnastics, fencing, wrestling, and sometimes women's basketball when it comes to fruition.
"This facility will change the entire game day experience for our volleyball team," head men's volleyball coach Pete Hanson said. "From the in-venue atmosphere to the technology used in player-development, we will be among the very elite in what we can offer both current and prospective student-athletes."
The Jennings Wrestling facility will provide an important leap forward for Tom Ryan's program. According to Ohio State, the new structure will include "a state-of-the-art practice facility, along with offices for coaches and student-athlete space."
"When you have a facility to the standard that this one is going to be, it screams value; it screams importance; it screams that when you come here, you are going to be treated in a first-class way," head wrestling coach Tom Ryan said.
Perhaps the crown jewel will be the state-of-the-art Schumaker Student-Athlete Development Complex that will provide nutritional, physical, and psychological development for student-athletes on 33 Ohio State teams. It will house 800 athletes for lifting, conditioning, training, and rehabilitating injuries in the complex.
It will include:
- The Davis Foundation Sports Nutrition and Dining Center – complete with professionally trained nutritionists. (Name pending approval.)
- Sports medicine and athletic training center – complete with hydrotherapy pools, injury rehabilitation equipment and physician offices.
- The Gene Smith Strength and Conditioning Center – complete with all of the latest strength and conditioning equipment and biomechanics equipment. (Name pending approval.)
- Classroom space for professional development opportunities for both current and former student-athletes.
This is on top of Ohio State's plans for a potential 4,000-seat hockey arena.
High-class renderings of each facility can be viewed in the gallery above, while also at Ohio State's official release site. If you're more of an audio and visual learner, Ohio State has you covered as well:
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