It has been three years in the making, and late last week, Virginia Tech finally received the weight equipment for the renovated Merryman Center weight room, and the room is now set up and ready for use.
The Hokies released a video on social media showing the setup of the new equipment.
In February of 2018, Virginia Tech announced the weight room expansion and upgrade, from 6,900 square feet to over 12,300 square feet. At a cost of $4.5 million, the project also included updates and expansions to the football position meeting rooms.
The Merryman Center weight room project is a key component of the overall facilities upgrade currently going on in Virginia Tech Athletics. The Hokies athletic department also recently finished construction of the Student-Athlete Performance Center (SAPC), a nutrition center that replaced and expanded the Bowman Room in the Jamerson Center attached to Cassell Coliseum. That project was envisioned as early as May of 2017, received a huge $15.2 million donation in December of 2017, and was finally completed at a cost of approximately $20 million in early 2021. Here’s a video showing the interior of the SAPC:
The SAPC will be used by all student athletes at Virginia Tech, whereas the Merryman Center renovation is football-specific.
The advent of the SAPC will improve athlete nutrition and monitoring across all sports. Previously, athletes have eaten at dining halls across campus and of course off-campus. Athletes will eat more often, in some cases perhaps exclusively, at the SAPC, and Virginia Tech nutritionists will make sure the recommended foods are available and will be able to observe the athletes more readily to ensure they are following the recommended dietary regimes.
For Virginia Tech football, the Merryman Center weight room construction has been going on since last spring/summer, making their primary weight room unavailable for last summer, the 2020 season, and the early months of 2021. Combined with the opening of the SAPC, the Merryman Center weight room availability should greatly improve the strength training and nutrition of the football team heading into the spring, summer, and football season of 2021.
Merryman Center Weight Room Renovation Details and Features
- Cost: $4.5 million
- Square Footage: increased from 6,900 to 12,300+
- Equipment: 24-rack system by Sorinex
- Access: folding glass door system for outside access to practice field
- Agility training: artificial turf with hashmarks
- Fueling station: custom recovery shakes and healthy snacks, multiple refrigeration units, easy-access fridges for food-to-go, custom cooler filled with recovery beverages and bottled water.
The Merryman Center also contains nine position meeting rooms for football.
For more information on the updated weight room and Merryman Center facilities, please see this press release on hokiesports.com.
Additional Merryman Center Weight Room and Meeting Room Pics
Provided by Virginia Tech Athletics (click to enlarge):
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Facilities isn’t really an excuse anymore for our football program!
cool beans, have we improved our communication failures between Hokie Club, AD, fans etc….? have we started including famous alum in these processes like Vick, B. Smith, DHall, Fullers, etc etc?
Some very cool Zoom events coming up with former players, Bud Foster, Justin Fuente, and Whit Babcock:
https://virginiatech.sportswar.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2021/03/alumni_zoom_events.jpg
Also, Michael Vick has been on recent Zoom calls with high-level donors.
How about Coach Bruce Arians? Someone needs to make sure they’re tagging him too.
Yes, across the board. We are headed in the right direction.
Those machines just don’t seem to lift enough for me. lol
Very nice – hope it impresses the future VT student/athletes.
I hope it helps to improve the ones we have