June 1, 2009

Frericks Center Renovations

DAYTON, Ohio - The Frericks Center, one of the nation's top collegiate volleyball-specific facilities, is in the final stages of a makeover designed to reduce player fatigue and injury while giving the Flyer Faithful a warm atmosphere to cheer the University of Dayton on to victory.

The historic Frericks gym floor that once provided the base of the court has been replaced with a state-of-the-art Robbins Bio-channel court,the Sport Court surface has been removed in favor of a return to the hardwood. The multi-layered surface helps reduce the toll taken on a player's body during the explosive movements in volleyball.

"This is a big-time commitment to our program and to the players. Frericks now has one of the best floors in Division I volleyball. It will change the way we train and the recovery time should be much quicker for our team," said UD volleyball head coach Kelly Sheffield. "From a recruiting standpoint, it is huge. When you walk in, you see only volleyball courts. There are not very many facilities in the country that you can say that about. Without question, it shows recruits that volleyball here at the University of Dayton is taken seriously."

The court is painted red with the Dayton Flyers logo mark on both sides of the court running parallel to the out of bounds line, University of Dayton borders the court on the end lines of the court. The floor has been marked solely for volleyball and is marked for two more practice courts that can be used when the facility is configured for practice.

Spectator viewing has also been upgraded in Frericks. The rafters have been cleared of unnecessary objects and the ceilings have been painted white to increase brightness in the facility. A new roof is also included in the $300,000 renovation of the Frericks Center.

Renovations are in the late stages of completion and photos of the upgrades can be viewed by clicking the photo gallery link at the top of this article.