DAY 12 (Aug. 12): Out With The Old, In With The New
The Azusa Pacific athletics summer facelift began when the Dillon Recreation Complex gave the football team a brand new, fully synthetic practice field to match the Cougars’ home playing surface at Citrus field. The installation of a brand new set of lights at the Cougar Soccer Complex, which make way for night time soccer matches for the first time in school history, marked the second step of the overall athletics facilities upgrade.
And the overhaul continues as the athletics department adds a fully renovated weight room and training center, highlighted by indoor turf for agility drills and state-of-the-art weight lifting equipment. Along with new mats, dumbbells, medicine balls, and racks, there are numerous upgraded stations and improved pieces of training equipment to help the athletes in their first year of competition in NCAA Div. II conferences.
And while the dumbbells and whistles will help the Cougars prepare for the field, the overall look of the facility (with its brand new floor, dead-lift platforms, and overall theme) will hopefully hit home with prospective recruits.
“It helps recruiting for sure. You bring in potential athletes and it’s a showcase for them to see,” said assistant director of athletics Aaron Bartholomew, who oversaw and implemented the renovation. “It gives the players state-of-the-art equipment to work out in. It’s going to help the coaches with their teams and training.
The upgrades, which cost more than $100 thousand, can be used by the Cougars as early as Monday August 13 as fall-sport athletes return from summer break.
Tags: Athletics, weight room
http://www.apu.edu/athletics/
