Mary Harrison, Campus Carrier sports editor

Thu-thud thwack. Thu-thud thwack.

Noah Creamer, senior, lands kicks and punches on a heavy weight bag in one of the Cage Center’s multipurpose workout rooms. 

Shortly after returning to campus last week, Creamer discovered the bag, and he has practiced kickboxing drills on it almost every day since.

“It gives me an excuse to at least show up here [at the Cage] for 30 minutes a day and make that time,” Creamer said. “It is therapeutic in and of itself to just turn my mind off and focus on my technique down to the minutia.”

The installation of this new piece of multi-functional workout equipment is just one of a handful of summer updates to athletic and recreational facilities that returning students might notice as they arrive back on campus.

The Synergy180 system, which includes two punching bags, ropes, bands and bars, was installed in Cage room 204 in early May, according to Assistant Dean of Student Wellness Michael McElveen. 

The new system can accommodate two to three users at a time, while still leaving space for workout equipment already used in the space, like plyometric boxes. A Synergy360 system, which is the same brand but just a larger workout space, is already in use on the Cage floor.

Former Student Government Association President Asa Owens (22C) started the initiative to buy punching bags two school years ago as an SGA project, McElveen said, but the equipment just arrived this summer due to supply chain issues. According to SGA Director of Finance Grant Thomas, senior, the project cost just over $15,000.

In addition to introducing heavy bags to the gym’s amenities, McElveen said the Synergy180’s location inside a multi-purpose room will open up space on the gym floor during peak hours and serve a storage place for weights that students get from the Cage’s weight room floor.

“It’s really a long time coming,” McElveen said. “There’s a number of students that wanted to have that available in the Cage.”

Another change that is a long time coming is the return to pre-COVID methods of operation. Berry students and Cage members now have to show their student ID or membership card to the front desk worker in order to be scanned in, rather than scanning in themselves. 

Shane West, assistant director of compliance, facilities and game management, said the end of needs to social distance prompted the return to pre-pandemic policy of front desk workers needing to verify all IDs, as well as attempts to sneak non-members into the Cage and members uninformed about needing to renew their membership. The change occurred at the beginning of the summer, to affect the smallest student population possible. 

Also over the summer, certain gymnasium floors around campus were resurfaced as part of routine maintenance. These rooms are now open, but the Cage pool is closed for maintenance until Monday, August 28.

For the first time since 2019, the WinShape Foundation made its camp pool available to the college community and Cage members while maintenance is conducted on Berry’s pool.

According to Speedy Trejo (91C), director for WinShape Camps for Boys, the tradition of Berry using the waterpark after WinShape camps ended has been ongoing since at least 2009. However, it was discontinued by the pandemic and other logistical issues. 

Vikings’ swim and dive program coach Astrid Escobar, who began her second year on Berry’s staff this July, re-kindled this partnership this year. Escobar, who also serves as Berry’s aquatics director, was not available to interview, but Assistant Director West said that part of the routine maintenance in the Cage pool includes regrouting showers in the locker rooms.

Construction on the new location of Dickey Field is also expected to be finished within the next few weeks, according to project manager and Physical Plant Assistant Director Nick Hopper, with crews expected to finish the last major phase, installing sod, this week.

The throws venue for the Vikings’ track and field teams is relocating behind the visitors’ stands in Valhalla Stadium. This made room at the previous site, between the Cage Center and Valhalla, for NCAA-regulation sand volleyball courts to be built for Berry’s new beach volleyball program, which officially opened in late February 2023.

Because construction was expedited to be ready for beach volleyball season, the timeline for phase two of the project, the relocation of Dickey Field, slowed down to allow the construction company to fulfill its other obligations, Hopper said.

Field athletes had to practice offsite at Riverside Park or behind the Ford Buildings for the 2023 season, but that did not stop the men’s track and field program from winning the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) conference championship for outdoor track and field for the second year in a row.

Head Coach Luke Syverson said despite some growing impatience to see the facility finished, he considers this move to also be a positive for the men’s and women’s track and field program.

Having the throws and track venues in the same area, rather than across a road from one another, makes practices more efficient for coaches and gamedays more enjoyable. It also allows athletes of different events, like hammer and discus, to practice at the same time, instead of having to wait because of space.

“It’s really going to be nice, to have all the events there at one venue, for our campus community and parents, and obviously the student athletes too,” Syverson said. “We’re excited for it, obviously, and it’s been worth the wait.”

The new Dickey Field is a state-of-the-art venue, with the first throws layout of its kind, according to project manager Hopper.  Other facilities include three shotput rings, a javelin runway, a dual hammer and discus cage and a separate discus cage

The dual cage uses a new design manufactured by Gill Athletics. Dickey Field is the only venue in the country or world to have a model of this prototype installed, Syverson said.

Berry staff have encountered some challenges with the new design, such as how to deter birds from perching on the cage, Syverson said. However, Gill Athletics offered the cage at a discount and will fund any changes that need to be made to the design. 

Syverson said he believes the cage will bring notoriety to Berry in the track and field community that will help with recruiting. 

“Part of the coolness of having something like that comes, some maybe future inconveniences, of how to use the cage,” Syverson said.

Clark Track in Valhalla also caught up on regular maintenance this summer, Syverson said. The track was cleaned as well as repaired for general wear and tear, and crews will plan around the Vikings Football schedule to repaint the track near the beginning of the school year.