Sports and Recreation Facility Design and Management class tour the Track at New Balance Center in Boston

Hands-on learning in the community is a cornerstone of many of our academic programs at Saint Joe’s. When Chris Woodside, professor of Sports and Recreation Facility Design and Management, had the opportunity to bring his students to a new, state-of-the-art training facility, he jumped at the chance.

Students in the Sports and Recreation Facility Design and Management course learn about the ins-and-outs of running a facility – from the beginning stages of planning to game day operations. What better way to do this than go where the action happens? That’s how Prof. Woodside’s students recently found themselves deep inside the Track at New Balance Center in Boston.

The Track is a new, one of a kind $500 million, multipurpose facility that opened in April. The students got a first-hand look at everything that goes into managing this multi-sport facility. They heard from the facility managers about the challenges that come with changeover between the various events, dealing with crowd management, and even realities like lighting and sun glare. They heard first-hand why certain materials are better to use than others throughout the facility, and how to maximize usage of the space.

After touring the Track, students sat down with four staff members for an hour of Q&A about everything from the challenges of managing a facility to breaking into the career. These students left the tour with greater knowledge of:

• strategies to consider when running a facility of that size,
• design elements they should incorporate in the construction of an athletics facility,
• and tips for breaking into the industry.

Their visit to the Track sets up the class to prepare their capstone project: designing and pitching their own sport facility. They’ll create a complete business plan for this brand new sport facility that they will pitch to real sport businesses in the industry at the end of the semester.

⇒ Learn more about the Sport and Recreation Management major

Photos by Chris Woodside