FETTERMAN TRAINING CENTER MEDIA TOUR

February 2, 2010 - The media got a chance to tour the Fetterman Training Center today, and everyone came away impressed.

Built at a cost of $10 million, the building brings many of UT's sports together in one connected facility extending from Savage Arena to the indoor turf room. There are probably few schools that can match such convenience for its athletes when you consider that practice facilities, strength training and sports medicine are just minutes apart.

As you head down a tunnel from the floor level of Savage Arena you first come to the the golf practice area that has a large putting green, driving cages, a swing analysis center and a turf floor (called Player's Turf) with many levels for practicing the short game. The area also includes locker rooms for both the men's and women's golf teams, called club houses, and two extra locker room areas that can be used for visiting teams using Savage Arena.

The indoor practice facility turf area was built for all of UT's teams. It won't be complete for a week or so, but the structure is truly massive inside. The FieldTurf is down and the rubber granules are being spread over the field. The padding on the walls around the field still needs to be completed as does the lane striping of the composite track along the west wall.

The field is 100 yards long including end-zones, so the football field itself is 80 yards in length. Another interesting fact is that there are no numbers on the field indicating yard lines. The architect from SSOE said it was done so the the field wouldn't be confusing to the many teams that will use it. The numbers could be added at a later time.

A large sign spanning the entire width of the building's south end will feature Rocket logos.

The sprint track goes almost the whole length of the building, and then the lanes go off into the turf with hash marks circling the entire structure for a total of 250 meters. There are also areas for pole vaulting, long and triple jumping and an 85 foot sand sprint area along the south wall. Permanent bleachers were also added along the outside west wall of the building for viewing meets at the outdoor track.

The Basketball/Volleyball practice court can be viewed from inside the building entrance near lot 4 and also from the west lobby of Savage Arena. The old floor from Savage Hall was recycled for the court. There are a total of six baskets and a scoreboard in the facility.