The Morse Wittwer Sports Performance Center officially opened its doors on Sept. 22 with a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The 6,000-square-foot facility is the new home for Fresno State athletes and features 12 platforms, a large turf area and iPads with advanced technology to track the performance of student-athletes throughout their workouts.
The noteworthy project was made possible through a donation provided by Chris and Michelle Morse and Ken and Kristi Wittwer.
“The finances are pretty simple with this one. The project cost $500,000, made up of flooring, weight equipment, branding, etc. and was funded by a $500,000 donation from the Morse and Wittwer families,” said Frank Pucher, senior associate athletics director.
Space for new buildings is scarce at Fresno State, so the new facility repurposes an area in the North Gym where the swimming pool was previously located.
“We’re so proud of that facility, and we’re really thankful for our administration because you know how it is here. Space is so important. We don’t have a lot of buildings here, so being able to convert that back to a performance center means the world to us,” Fresno State Athletic Director Terry Tumey told The Collegian.
Much like Tumey, Bulldog athletes, coaches and staff seem thrilled for the introduction of a second training room. Prior to the investment, all 17 athletic programs shared a single weight room located near the Duncan Building.
Coaches are especially pleased by one key aspect the new building offers: flexibility.
As a result of the limited space the athletic programs previously had, there were often issues with scheduling. It created a bottleneck effect in which teams couldn’t practice at ideal times because other teams had to use the facility as well. With the addition of a second weight room, there is now flexibility for coaches to take advantage of when scheduling practices.
“The new space allows teams where maybe we weren’t training at the exact time we wanted because of scheduling, it takes that away and lets us have a little more flexibility in our schedule when we lift,” said Fresno State Track and Field Head Coach Jason Drake. “The thing is simply when you look at all the teams we have, trying to schedule everyone in the weight room, it just opens up whole new options because you’ve basically doubled your space.”
The additional space not only creates scheduling flexibility, but it also saves time when it comes to getting into the weight room itself.
The old weight room required athletes to cross North Cedar Avenue to reach the Duncan Building, which is a 10-15 minute walk from the North Gym. The new weight room cuts out the lag time from locker room to weight room completely, making it a seamless transition.
“Well, it’s amazing,” said Swim and Dive Head Coach Jeanne Fleck. “It’ll cut off 24 minutes of their time for their day. We would go over to the weight room on the other side, so we’re going to get an extra half an hour of training in that we never got in before. It’s wonderful.”
In-season athletes are allowed a maximum of 20 hours of practice per week. Time is valuable, so the efficiency of going from practice to weight room is a much welcomed change for all coaches and athletes.
“My group, the cross country group, would get on their scooters and hurry up and scoot over to the other side and just wouldn’t have much time. The ease of going from practice to lift is really nice,” Drake said.
As many Fresno State programs look ahead to the start of their respective seasons, they will be looking to convert that investment in the program into results in the win column.