NEWBERRY — Looming storms did not get in the way of Newberry College officially breaking ground on Phase One of the Setzler Field renovations Friday afternoon — the Board of Trustees approved the $2.3 million Phase One project last month.
Newberry College President Dr. Maurice Scherrens said the first phase of the stadium project will likely commence in November or December of this year.
Scherrens also took the time to thank the many people who made the groundbreaking possible.
“Every gift, small or large, has gotten us closer to putting a shovel in the ground,” he said. “It is our hope that other donors will follow suit to provide us the resources necessary to begin Phase Two (the field house).”
The project will primarily be aimed at athletic performance with most of the space dedicated to strength and conditioning on one side of the building, and athletic training and sports medicine on the other side. The building will also include public restrooms and an officials locker room — which will be completed prior to the beginning of next season.
Scherrens also extended thanks to McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture and J Davis Construction, both of these firms have been with Newberry College for many years planning the project.
“We’re not here today to celebrate a new building because it’s nice to have construction going on — we celebrate today because we move one step closer to giving our student-athletes the type of experience that we want them to have as part of the Newberry College athletic program and part of this family. They deserve, and it’s a long time coming, a better weight room, they deserve better athletic training facilities, they deserve a better locker room, better team meeting rooms, they all just deserve a better stadium — Newberry College deserves a better stadium,” Scherrens said. “For us to be excellent and for us to recruit the best student-athletes we can, we need to get serious about building facilities that match up to our expectations to be a leader in the South Atlantic Conference.”
Athletic Director Ralph Patterson expressed his thanks to the various donors who have played a role in making the groundbreaking possible.
“The reason they (donors) are doing this is for the 200 reasons out there (student-athletes in attendance) — field hockey, women’s lacrosse team is here, our men’s lacrosse team is here, the football team is here,” he said. “This is happening because of you — we want to support y’all all that we can and the fact that our dream is becoming a reality means the world to us.”
