By Rebekka Coakley, Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State’s Board of Trustees Friday (Nov. 11) approved the appointment of Cannon Design of Baltimore to design an addition to McCoy Natatorium and a new Indoor Tennis Center on Penn State’s University Park campus.
“The McCoy Natatorium was constructed in 1967. It no longer meets student fitness and recreational needs and is inadequate for varsity swimming and diving teams,” Dan Sieminski, associate vice president for Finance and Business, said. “It is the oldest and smallest swimming facility in the Big Ten.”
He added that the existing indoor tennis center also is insufficient for student recreation and varsity tennis teams. The two projects will help address a longstanding lack of fitness space for University Park students. Students have expressed interest in having greater access to fitness and recreational space.
The architects will incorporate an addition to McCoy Natatorium, which right now is 81,356-square-foot and design a new Indoor Tennis Center, replacing the current 32,618-square-foot indoor tennis building. Both will be at the corner of Curtin Road and Bigler Road, just east of the existing natatorium and north of the Sarni Tennis Center, used for outdoor tennis matches. According to Mark Bodenschatz, associate athletic director in Facilities and Operations, the new aquatics center will have a 50-meter indoor pool and a separate indoor diving well with a 10-, 7- and 5-meter diving platforms and 1- and 3-meter diving boards. The additional water space, Bodenschatz said, will allow for the existing pools to be used for more student recreation, water aerobics and water sports for club teams while the 50-meter indoor pool meets NCAA standards for varsity swimming and diving.
“There also is an economic development aspect, as the larger pool will attract more meets such as the PIAA which Penn State had until Bucknell built a 50-meter pool several years ago,” Bodenschatz said. “There also are USA swimming regional meets, YMCA meets and more that Penn State will host, bringing families to Center County and prospective students to campus.”
The new Indoor Tennis Center also will offer more recreational opportunities for students and greater opportunities to host varsity tennis tournaments.
“Students currently represent more than 36 percent of the indoor hours used on the courts. Faculty and staff are less than 35 percent and the public club members represent less than 29 percent,” Bodenschatz said. “The cost per hour is really high for court time compared with other facilities, mostly based on supply and demand and the inefficiencies of the size of the operation. The larger facility will have more courts and therefore more court time available and will have reduced rates due to the improved efficiency. Tennis has a very active student club and also participates in Penn State’s Late Night.”
Penn State Athletics will decide how best to repurpose the existing indoor tennis center.