TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Indiana State Athletics Sports Performance Center and Nutrition Station is nearing completion as part of the athletics capital campaign -- Elevate -- The Campaign For Sycamore Athletics. Director of Athletics Sherard Clinkscales is proud to announce that work is in the final phases and the Sports Performance Center and Nutrition Station will be open for business on August 1. 

Elevate is the first-of-its-kind athletics only fundraising campaign in the history of the department. Indiana State Athletics has identified key fundraising projects that will address immediate needs and create lasting hallmarks for the program. Donor support of Elevate is critical to the development of all Sycamore student-athletes and will have a direct impact beginning with the 2017-18 academic year. The four projects that gifts to Elevate will directly support include the brand new Sports Performance Center and Nutrition Station; the Sycamore Fuel Initiative -- which will provide extra healthy meals to our student-athletes; Sycamore Football Coaches Office and Player Lounge Renovation and the installation of a Sycamore Track and Field Interactive Display which will celebrate the rich history of that program.

Additionally, through the generous support of Indiana State University President Dr. Daniel J. Bradley, the university is providing additional funds for the first two completed projects that are also part of Elevate. The first is the John McNichols Training Track and the second is upgrades to Memorial Stadium. New state-of-the-art lights have been installed at Memorial Stadium and we will take a look at those later this month. The final phase of the upgrades to Memorial Stadium comes next summer with a complete replacement of the field turf used by football and women's soccer.

The most important aspect of Elevate is that these different projects will benefit every student-athlete on every team through the funds that are being raised. 

Today's focus is on the Sports Performance Center and Nutrition Station which is located in the ISU Arena building located on 5th Street in the heart of the Indiana State campus. The brand new state-of-the-art Sports Performance Center will replace the old Strength & Conditioning Center which was constructed in space that was previously an outdoor courtyard in the late 2000's. Meanwhile this summer, Sycamore student-athletes have been training downstairs in the legendary "Dungeon", but on August 1st all sports teams at Indiana State will be using the new Sports Performance Center and benefiting from the Nutrition Station to refuel for the next workout.

The ISU Arena building is currently home to most of the Sycamore Athletics offices as well as volleyball's home matches and both men's and women's basketball practices. It will soon be home to renovated work areas for the Strength & Conditioning staff and the home of much hard work for all Sycamore student-athletes. We visited with head strength coach Dave McMannus to get an update on the project.

"This is exciting for our staff to see this facility nearing completion," McMannus said. "I started making the pitch for this work to be done back in 2012 and to be within two weeks of it really happening is hard to believe. We have a great internship program and the people that come through here will have an office to work, learn and plan and our full time staff will as well. We are tripling the capacity of the weight room and we can hold separate workouts with different teams at the same time in the new facility."

Gone will be the days of having to open the Sports Performance Center at 5 a.m. and then keeping it open until 9 p.m. at night just to accommodate all the student-athletes who need to work out to be successful. Though early and late practices will still occur due to class and practice schedules, it will no longer be necessary to schedule workout times at all hours of the day and night to accommodate everyone. For example, previously a larger team like football or track and field might need a 3-4 hour window to workout their entire time, but with increased capacity the whole large team can come in and workout all together for an hour and be done. Additionally, multiple smaller teams will be able to workout at the same time but yet they will have their own space to workout.

"We have ordered some of the best equipment on the market today to service our student-athletes," McMannus said. "The best thing is that this equipment is double sided and we now have room to add another set of equipment. This has effectively tripled our capacity and will end our scheduling nightmare and will allow my staff to not have to put in 16 hour days to workout everyone that they need to. Additionally, this will end the need for a team to workout late one night and then come back early the next day and will give them more to recover."

Speaking of recovery, the brand new Nutrition Station will be a key area of growth for the department in the Sports Performance Center. The Nutrition Station will serve items such as prepared sandwiches, recovery drinks, shakes, chocolate milk and other healthy items which will aid in the quick recovery of our student-athletes. While some student-athletes have had to turn to fast food options after workouts, now the Strength & Conditioning staff will be able to serve them exactly what they need to continue their work to win championships. More importantly, there will be an area to give cooking demonstrations to student-athletes so they can prepare items at home more in line with their dietary needs and the staff will be taking student-athletes on grocery store tours to show them exactly what they need to be buying on their own to live a healthy, active life.

"The Nutrition Station is filling a big need for Sycamore Athletics," McMannus said. "We are going to be able to control what the student-athletes are consuming, especially those that have specific needs for allergies or achieving specific goals. This is a game changer for Sycamore Athletics. Through the support of Elevate, the Sycamores will be receiving the same first class nutrition services that many of the other schools in our conference are offering."

To learn more about the Elevate campaign or to donate please click here.