K-State breaks ground on new sports arena & training facilities
MANHATTAN (KSNT) - K-State officials broke ground on a new sports arena and practice facilities for its student-athletes Wednesday afternoon.
The new projects will be built at K-State's Football Complex and will cost more than 70 million dollars in donor money to complete.
K-State Athletics Director Gene Taylor said the projects have been in the making for the last five years, so finally seeing things get underway was a good feeling.
The money is going toward a new volleyball arena that coaches say is in need of some updating. The arena will have things like increased seating capacity, practice courts, and a team theater.
Attached to the volleyball arena will be a 14,000 square foot Olympic performance center with space for sports medicine rehab, hydrotherapy recovery, and a state-of-the-art mental health and wellness space.
Taylor says it's significant for the K-State community to get upgrades like these.
"For the student-athletes to have an experience and be able to train and compete at the highest level, in great new facilities. It's a recruiting advantage as we go to recruit student-athletes to come to K-State," Taylor said. "And it makes the job for the coaches even better to be able to coach in these facilities. You know new offices, new weight rooms, new training rooms. All the things that they need to be successful that they haven't had in a while."
There will also be an upgraded football practice space which will have a 130 yard indoor practice field along with an outdoor turf practice field.
The new facilities are expected to be completed by 2023.