With an array of sports teams utilizing it everyday, the fieldhouse weight room had seen some wear and tear since the opening of the school in 2007, but this year, many of the elements of the weight room are being replaced and upgraded.

“The updates that are taking place are that the equipment that we have is original, so just like anything else, it ages overtime,” assistant football coach Matt Swinnea said. “It’s used everyday, so we’ve been gradually updating and replacing things throughout the years, so we’re finishing that up.”

In addition to the upgrade making things easier, it’s going to be safer for the students using the weights.

“In terms of safety, we are moving around a lot of weights, we have some safety features, needing to be replaced, so things along those lines,” Swinnea said. “Crash bars, or anything that is a safety feature like that, over time just wears, and we keep wearing on it, so you need to make sure you update it so you don’t have a failure, or you don’t have an accident.”

Student athletes, such as sophomore volleyball player Franny Trezza, had begun noticing the wear and tear in the weight room.

“I know that they got rid of the racks that have the red grips,” Trezza said. “They were really hard to do pull ups on, and anything else because they are thick and slick. Some of the benches are really old, and we don’t have the things we need to adjust them, so I think that they got new benches that don’t need the little balls to adjust them.’

Trezza is grateful for the change, but doesn’t feel that it was an indispensable upgrade.  

“I don’t think this was essential, but it was definitely beneficial,” Trezza said. “I think it will be a huge benefit to the athletic department as a whole, and all student athletes that use it.”

Wrestler Justin McBride hopes to see the weight room by the gym upgraded as well.

“The [fieldhouse] weight room is a very nice weight room, they have some good upgrades, they have some good weights, they have a lot more versatile stuff to work out with, and one of the things, a lot of us, especially the wrestling team, and the basketball team wish that the inside weight room was a lot better, and have a lot more facilities,” McBride said. “We can do a lot of the lifts, and sometimes, we need more racks, or some or the weights are broken, and we don’t have the proper equipment to do the proper work out.”

Like most sports on campus, the volleyball team heads to the weight room multiple times a week, and head coach Ui Womble is glad for the improvements being made, to help protect students while exercising.

“It’ll give the kids a safe environment to lift all the weights,” Womble said. “Some of the crash bars were broken, so if anyone is in a situation where there maxing out and they’re in a bind, then yes, it’s definitely a safety issue.”