Grand Canyon University Athletics
New locker rooms, lounges wow hoopsters
10/28/2021 7:00:00 PM | General, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Paul Coro
GCU Arena area expands, modernizes for men's, women's basketball
Home for the Grand Canyon basketball players might not be their campus apartments any longer.
The GCU men's and women's basketball teams entered their renovated locker rooms and new player lounges at GCU Arena on Thursday and the upgrades have them not wanting to leave for many places besides class or the GCU Basketball Practice Facility next door.
Each team's players let out a joyous scream or a dazzled "ooh-ahh" upon walking into the expanded space that has been been a work in progress alongside their basketball work since April.
"I feel so rich," graduate student Jay McChristine said as freshman teammate Naudia Evans hopped in jubilation alongside her in front of their lockers.
The teams share a freshly painted arena hallway and the same joy on Thursday, when players broke out their phones for photos, videos and FaceTime calls to show off their new digs.
A purple archway leads each team first into a player lounge, which was added as part of 350 additional square feet of player space for each team. Those rooms are equipped with massage chairs, refrigerators, 98-inch televisions and new recessed lighting that had players going from covering their eyes to covering their mouths as they entered.
The volume level of excitement ramped up when they moved onto the locker room, which wowed them with video boards of each player's photo embedded with graphic designs over each locker. Overhead, a giant GCU logo shines down with purple lighting washing the ceiling.
"I like the lights," junior Jovan Blacksher Jr. said. "It's got the purple and you can't even tell where it's coming from.
"My first year, we had a good locker room but this went to a whole different level."
Each locker becomes illuminated once the player opens the tall double doors, with a combination locker inside the locker. There is addition cabinet space over the main locker area and below the purple padded seating for each player. Below the seat, LED lighting runs around the entire locker room with the ability to change the color, just as the video displays over the lockers can be rotated.
"I did not know what to expect at all," said Taylor Caldwell, a sophomore who also redshirted one year at GCU. "You could see the little stuff here and there from walking to the training room and the weight room, but I didn't expect all this.
"I noticed the massage chairs. That's a great addition. In the locker room, I noticed our pictures. We just all look good up there as a unit. It's got the vibes so we're going to be in there all the time."
It was appropriate that the players could use a phone's Bluetooth to tap into the new sound system because they felt like dancing on both sides. Aiden Igiehon stands 6 feet 10, able to get a good look at the video screen with graphic images inside his head shot and video highlights of him playing in the background.
Coaches love the video boards for the abilities to customize for recruits and relish the details, like giant dry-erase boards as large as the wide-screen televisions.
"We really wanted to maximize the space in the rooms and provide the teams lounges right at the locker room," said Tim Baron, GCU associate athletic director for facilities and operations. "The design idea was to modernize everything, and really improve the lighting to provide an atmosphere for the team to meet and prepare before games and enjoy being together before and after practices."
With a deeper look, the locker rooms became more impressive with the gray, three-dimensional accent walls and an exhaust system that pulls air out of each locker to ensure a fresh atmosphere.
"I love it," fifth-year player Sean Miller-Moore said. "Way more spacious. I think we deserve it. Hopefully, we can make it last with some dubs. We've got the music going and we can set the vibe to get ready to play or lift or whatever it is."
The new feel extended beyond the locker room into an area of new showers and restrooms.
It began earlier this summer, when a new basketball-dedicated weight room opened in GCU Arena with four racks, a VersaClimber, a Woodway treadmill. Basketball players can move in one hallway to the weight room, locker rooms and an expanded training room, freeing the Lopes Performance Center for other teams.
"It's absolutely beautiful to me," said McChristine, an Indiana State transfer. "I'm not used to all this. I feel like a celebrity."
The GCU men's and women's basketball teams entered their renovated locker rooms and new player lounges at GCU Arena on Thursday and the upgrades have them not wanting to leave for many places besides class or the GCU Basketball Practice Facility next door.
Each team's players let out a joyous scream or a dazzled "ooh-ahh" upon walking into the expanded space that has been been a work in progress alongside their basketball work since April.
"I feel so rich," graduate student Jay McChristine said as freshman teammate Naudia Evans hopped in jubilation alongside her in front of their lockers.The teams share a freshly painted arena hallway and the same joy on Thursday, when players broke out their phones for photos, videos and FaceTime calls to show off their new digs.
A purple archway leads each team first into a player lounge, which was added as part of 350 additional square feet of player space for each team. Those rooms are equipped with massage chairs, refrigerators, 98-inch televisions and new recessed lighting that had players going from covering their eyes to covering their mouths as they entered.
The volume level of excitement ramped up when they moved onto the locker room, which wowed them with video boards of each player's photo embedded with graphic designs over each locker. Overhead, a giant GCU logo shines down with purple lighting washing the ceiling.
"I like the lights," junior Jovan Blacksher Jr. said. "It's got the purple and you can't even tell where it's coming from."My first year, we had a good locker room but this went to a whole different level."
Each locker becomes illuminated once the player opens the tall double doors, with a combination locker inside the locker. There is addition cabinet space over the main locker area and below the purple padded seating for each player. Below the seat, LED lighting runs around the entire locker room with the ability to change the color, just as the video displays over the lockers can be rotated.
"I did not know what to expect at all," said Taylor Caldwell, a sophomore who also redshirted one year at GCU. "You could see the little stuff here and there from walking to the training room and the weight room, but I didn't expect all this."I noticed the massage chairs. That's a great addition. In the locker room, I noticed our pictures. We just all look good up there as a unit. It's got the vibes so we're going to be in there all the time."
It was appropriate that the players could use a phone's Bluetooth to tap into the new sound system because they felt like dancing on both sides. Aiden Igiehon stands 6 feet 10, able to get a good look at the video screen with graphic images inside his head shot and video highlights of him playing in the background.
Coaches love the video boards for the abilities to customize for recruits and relish the details, like giant dry-erase boards as large as the wide-screen televisions.
"We really wanted to maximize the space in the rooms and provide the teams lounges right at the locker room," said Tim Baron, GCU associate athletic director for facilities and operations. "The design idea was to modernize everything, and really improve the lighting to provide an atmosphere for the team to meet and prepare before games and enjoy being together before and after practices."
With a deeper look, the locker rooms became more impressive with the gray, three-dimensional accent walls and an exhaust system that pulls air out of each locker to ensure a fresh atmosphere.
"I love it," fifth-year player Sean Miller-Moore said. "Way more spacious. I think we deserve it. Hopefully, we can make it last with some dubs. We've got the music going and we can set the vibe to get ready to play or lift or whatever it is."The new feel extended beyond the locker room into an area of new showers and restrooms.
It began earlier this summer, when a new basketball-dedicated weight room opened in GCU Arena with four racks, a VersaClimber, a Woodway treadmill. Basketball players can move in one hallway to the weight room, locker rooms and an expanded training room, freeing the Lopes Performance Center for other teams.
"It's absolutely beautiful to me," said McChristine, an Indiana State transfer. "I'm not used to all this. I feel like a celebrity."
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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