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As a fullback on Ball State University’s football team, Scott Volk tries
to win as many blocking wars as he can at the line of scrimmage. He also
wants to win a Mid-American Conference championship before he graduates.
Both goals will get a boost from the improved training and stadium
facilities that are on the horizon.
Ball State’s plans to expand the football stadium and build a new athletic training structure off the south end zone are under way as part of the Above and Beyond Campaign. Major private gifts for the project have been pledged by John and Janice Fisher and John and June Scheumann. The Scheumanns also contributed funds for a new multipurpose artificial turf field north of the stadium that will be used by the women’s field hockey team and for football practices.
The football training facility now under construction will feature specialized weight- and strength-training equipment to enhance players’ performance, plus state-of-the-art sports medicine facilities, renovated team locker rooms, and player position meeting rooms. The structure will bring practices and strategy sessions together in the same location and open up existing training facilities for other sports. The football stadium expansion will bring the total spectator seating up to Division I-A intercollegiate standards. A new set of stands will sit atop the new training facility on the south end, and the entire complex will be renovated to include a new outward appearance and entrance, new plazas with easily accessible concession and restroom facilities, a technologically up-to-date press box, and suites for alumni gatherings and special events. The renovated west side of the stadium also will house locker facilities for the softball, baseball, field hockey, and track teams. "It’s a real asset to our program," Volk says about the improvements. "It’s going to be a better atmosphere." Volk says the new training equipment may help him become stronger and faster in his two remaining years of eligibility, and the new facilities will help the team improve and recruit quality student athletes. The promised improvements made Ball State more appealing to Volk when he was recruited by the football program in 1997. "When you go to other MAC schools and see their facilities, you can see how far behind we were," he says. "It’s going to be better for everyone. Winning games and having facilities that can compete with the other MAC schools will give us better recruits in the long run." Volk decided he wanted to play for the Cardinals after they won the MAC championship in 1996, and he received a football scholarship to attend Ball State. He is a third-year marketing major from Valparaiso, Indiana, who hopes the leadership, teamwork, and time management skills he has gained from football will help him in a sales career. Facilities like the stadium expansion and other projects funded by private support add to the many options that are available to Ball State students. Just as this project benefits Volk and other athletes, other projects improve the quality and quantity of the opportunities for student enrichment at the university. Volk believes that the Cardinals can win a conference championship before he leaves. "Right now we’re building some confidence," he says, "and I think that’s going to carry on in the future." Continue: Conclusion |
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Scott Volk
the
university president’s residence; the John E. Worthen Arena
(below), an 11,500-seat multipurpose structure that opened in 1992; and the
Alumni Center (right), designed by world-famous architects
Pei Cobb Freed and Partners.