How an athletic center prepares athletes for gameday: Jacksonville State University

The first of September signifies the start of a much-anticipated time of year — college football season. To many, football means good food, relaxing weekends and spending time with friends and family watching some of their favorite teams. But there is perhaps no group that it means more to than the athletes about to take the field.

For football players, the stress of the day can build as they try to recall plays, ready their bodies physically and anticipate the excitement of fans pouring into the stadium. That’s why Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) designed the new Loring and Debbie White Football Performance Center with these athletes at the top of mind, focusing on functionality, ease and convenience, while also aiming to enhance the player experience.

Jacksonville State University (JSU) recently unveiled the Gamecocks’ new state-of-the-art operations building behind the west endzone, just in time for the 2024 season. This facility will enhance gameday for the players on a multitude of levels.

The design team intentionally studied and created a flow of the building to keep a continuous movement so that players and staff rarely have to retrace their steps, as athletes only have a finite amount of time where every minute matters. The equipment room is part of that path where players start to grab their equipment as they head into the locker room. The equipment room is loaded with individual cubbies for each athlete so they can grab and go before practice.

Each player has their own locker which is spacious enough for every athlete to sit in comfortably no matter their build. The locker room was designed with a central focus point to accommodate quick all-team meetings, but also has breakouts that allow for more group style meets among positions.

It was critical for the locker room to have continuous ventilation to keep the locker room fresh throughout the season with airflow being pulled out rather than pushed in. Within the locker room there is also a shoe drying room for post-game and post-practice needs.

Past the locker room, the path leads to bathrooms, showers and the training room equipped with hydrotherapy tubs and space for athletic trainers. This connection to wet spaces was crucial to reduce travel through the building while wet. The training room also has the benefit of direct access to the field, helping reduce distance during any in-game injuries.

JSU players have the luxury of a designated player lounge with TVs, video game systems, arcade games and a nutrition bar. Additionally, the upstairs features team meeting rooms, equipped to accommodate smaller position-focused and full-team meetings, plus coaches’ spaces including the head coach’s office and gameday suite. The players have a private back stairwell to the upstairs space, once again improving the flow of their day-to-day.

The athletic facility also serves another very important purpose as being the players’ home away from home. Many athletes come from cities or states far away with little time to travel back to their hometowns. The performance center is uniquely designed to create comfort and comradery among the team. It has amenities not just for practice and games, but also for schoolwork and team building. This seemingly small piece of an athlete’s day can make a big difference when it comes to game time by creating a sense of serenity and accessibility.

The new performance center will not only enhance gameday for the athletes, but for fans as well. The players’ lounge converts into a premium club experience. Players will leave the locker room into the converted fan area where fans will be able to be the first to see the athletes before they hit the field. The upstairs also has nine club-level suites with outdoor seating and roll up doors, providing exclusive views of all the on-field activity.

GMC provided architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture, geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing and interior design for the project. It will see its first season of use for the 2024 football season.