Nelson Field House

Nelson Field House

If someone asked you if you believed in heaven on earth what would you say? We’ll if you ask the Bloomsburg student athletes they would respond with “oh you mean Nelson Field House, on upper campus?” The Nelson field house has anything any student athlete could ask for in a facility. Most students take advantage of the campus bus which will drop you off out front of the building. Besides that luxury the field house is home to every sports team the university offers. Regardless of sport every athlete spends countless hours training, lifting, studying, or healing in the field house throughout their time as a husky. Student athletes invest a large portion of their college career in this building. The university does an amazing job of reciprocating the investment the students put in by providing them with top of line facilities and staff.  Nelson field house truly displays the second half of what they University can offer students besides a great education. From locker rooms, to the weight room, and the training room, Bloomsburg athletes take pride in their facilities.

Once athletes put in the code to access the locker room, the mural  of the Bloomsburg Husky painted on the wall is the first thing people see once. The mural reminds players that they are not only playing and working for themselves but the University and their teammates. The shiny grey floor takes a sharp left and blaring in the distance is the sound of  "pray for em" a rap song by Meek Mill, which overtakes the other noises of running water and conversations. Before you're able to turn the corner and see the sources of the noise, a wall of papers catch the eye first. The papers poses names, weight lifts, and other information. One paper stands out due to its yellow coloring and red font. The paper reads "Funk Friday" and a list of names below it. "Having your name on the wall means you have to report to Funk Friday. Which pretty much means your screwed. Funk Friday is a special workout on Saturday morning at 8am." says freshmen quarterback Jay Popson. Jay shares this information while he shakes his shaker bottle vigorously to mix up his post workout. He goes on to say "It's not so much a work out as it is a punishment. You get invited for skipping your scheduled lift, not properly putting in your weights on team buildr, or being late.”

As you pass through the hallway to the locker room, the space opens up and you are surrounded by maroon lockers with white name tags on them (image 1). In the Center of the room stands a display of different color game jerseys that numbers read “2016”. The first jersey is maroon with white numbering which has bright yellow trim, followed by a white jersey with maroon numbering. The last jersey is their alternate grey color and that too had maroon numbering with the white trim. Sitting on the top of the display is the team’s helmet. The University's mascot which is a husky is represented on the helmet by a white husky sticker on the helmet, this is surrounded by gold skull and crossbones. These stickers are given to every player on the team, after they win a season game. On either side of the room are big 50" inch flat screen TV's, that have ESPN displayed on them. Right below the TV's hang giant white boards with directions to dress, warm up, stretch, all before entering the weight room.

As the players filed into the weight room the large space, increasingly felt smaller. Each player wearing their lifting uniforms which are black shorts with grey Bloomsburg shirts. The players scattered throughout the gym doing their warm up sets for their lift for the day. This day happened to be back squat. Dave kitchen who is currently an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the university supervises the weight room with the team. He ensures the players follow proper weight room procedures, while ensuring player's safety. Kitchen passionately explained the significance of having the players warm up before they start their lifts. "The reason why we warm up and stretch out every day and every workout is to prevent future injuries and making any current ones any worse.” Kitchen is a young, shirt, stocky man wearing a black BU polo, with khaki shorts. He then goes on to talk about their lift for today, “Today we are back squatting and super setting it with barbell lunges. This lift will make their lower body stronger while testing their explosion with the lunges. To compliment the main lift, the men will do their axillary lifts to hit their other body muscles that their main lift did not.”

The weight room itself contains five large squat racks, all equipped with different weight options. Located on the far side of the rack are maroon colored benches. From the weights, floor, and walls anyone who walks into the space will notice the team's logo. Mirrors line the room's walls making the space feel larger than reality. The dumbbell rack blocks one of the room's walls. Sitting along the wall a variety of weighted dumbbells, ranging from 5lbs to 150lbs. The sound of chains clinking on the ground mixed with violent grunts, and yells echo throughout the room. The smell of sweat and protein follows you throughout the space. Paper towel dispensers are strategically placed throughout the room to wipe sweat, or clean off a rack or bench. "We Stress hygiene to the men everyday. Infections and skin rashes can occur quite easily if the proper steps aren't taken." Kitchen explains.

If a player were to get sick or injured they would go to the training room. This space is conveniently located in between the weight room and the locker room. The Training room is filled with all the equipment a medical professional needs to help heal an athlete. Five maroon, padded training tables line the middle of the room. This tables make it easier for the trainers and doctors to inspect the injured athlete. Facing them are five taping stations, these extremely similar to the training tables but they are not flat. The taping stations have elevated backs so the player could lean back against it while getting examined. Typically, these are used for foot injuries, or if a player needed to get taped. George one of the head trainers at Bloomsburg was assisting an injured player on the message table. George is a short, white haired, man. His one back pocket carried a roll of tape, and the other with a pair of scissors. After finishing up with this athlete he jumped from injury to injury helping in everyway possible. In the back of the room out of the way of the commotion sit the doctor offices. The doctors come in to the training room a few times a week to examine players that George or the other trainers feel need to see them. This occurs when the injury or medical reason, needs another set of eyes. Also the doctor’s determine if a player needs surgery, to go to the hospital, or needs to sit out of play. "We hate telling the kids they can't participate. We understand that this is their second job besides students. They work hard, and train hard as well. Were hear to keep them on the field not off of it." George explains. 

Some students see the Nelson Field house as just another building on campus, to others the place you go to watch the basketball game or the swim meets. To the Bloomsburg student athletes it's the place they sweat, train, bleed, recover, study, and so much more. To them it's their place of work, their place of training to be the best they can at their perspective sport. The Nelson Field house is heaven on earth for the Bloomsburg Huskies.