Men’s, women’s teams look to woo new recruits with practice facility
The Ryan Center’s new court will be a lighter shade and will contain the University’s secondary logo, introduced last year. PHOTO CREDIT: keaneyblue.com
The University of Rhode Island’s Athletic Department has made a large investment for a new Ryan Center court alongside a new practice facility for both men’s and women’s basketball by the beginning of basketball season.
The court is currently being resurfaced and awaiting arrival back to the Ryan Center. The new practice facility will be located within the Mackal Fieldhouse.
The basketball-specific practice facility will raise standards closer to Rhody’s competitors. For years, the basketball teams have had to share the Keaney Gymnasium with many other sports teams.
This new practice facility is rumored to be done by next summer, and is located in the old Tootell gym for the athletes’ convenience.
URI Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn said that he was excited about the new practice facility and being able to give both basketball teams a specialized space for themselves.
“We hope to be in it by next summer,” Bjorn said. “That’ll be a total renovation of West Gym, it’ll be a men’s and women’s basketball only practice facility. All four buildings are connected and so coming out of the locker room for the men’s and women’s program is an easy walk right here, so it’s the access which is important.”
Bjorn also said that the redesign and addition of the new court will have a large impact on the school as a whole going forward.
“I think it shows great investment,” Bjorn said. “It allows our coaches to go out and say that basketball is important here at the University of Rhode Island.”
Associate Athletic Director Garrett Waller also felt like these new changes will largely benefit both basketball programs.
According to Waller, the main focus of the new facility is for recruitment opportunities, as Rhody looks to expand their outreach.
“Being able to show student athletes that our basketball program is important to the school and that they are able to work on their craft is just as important to the school,” Waller said. “A graphic designer can open their laptop at any time of day; right now our players are only able to practice at specific times.”
Waller also said that the school wants as many games as they can get on national television in order to further let prospective student-athletes know the importance of the basketball programs.
This type of exposure will fulfill current URI athletes and tempt prospective students to play in Kingston, according to Waller.
“We want to prove that we are nationally relevant athletically and academically,” Waller said.
Bjorn said that athletics are an important asset to URI’s culture. The athletic department, according to him, intends to show their competitive nature to other schools across the country.
“The Ryan Center is as good as any other place, when we have it rocking, it’s awesome,” Bjorn said.