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New Complex Delivers B1G Student-Athlete BenefitsNew Complex Delivers B1G Student-Athlete Benefits

New Complex Delivers B1G Student-Athlete Benefits

Fans have flocked to the new Hibner Stadium for soccer matches this year. Prior to Friday's match, Nebraska soccer has drawn an average of 1,736 fans per game. That mark was higher than the season totals for the last 10 years.

 

Randy York N-Sider
Official Blog of the Huskers

World-class facilities captivate fans who now flock to Nebraska’s Hibner Stadium and Barbara Hibner Field for soccer. The Huskers’ Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center next door is equally compelling for Nebraska’s men’s and women’s tennis programs and their faithful followers. Fans of both sports see the glitter and feel the glamor of comfortable seats and all the amenities that come with a $20.4 million on-campus facility.

But the biggest benefactors – and the top priority for all three programs – are the student-athletes themselves. They’re the ones who profit most moving into their respective new homes to experience the benefits that intrinsically go above and beyond what they accomplish on the soccer field and on the tennis court.

“Everything we need is right there in front of us. We don’t have to go out of our way for anything.” – Dusty Boyer, Senior, Men’s Tennis

“We’ve gained six or seven new hours a week in our schedules,” said Maggy Lehmicke, a senior tennis student-athlete from Kirkland, Wash. “My first two years, we commuted to the Abbott Complex, which was a 15-minute drive each way. Last year, we commuted to the Racquet Club courts, about a 20-minute drive each way. Now, we don’t commute. We can drive, or even walk, to our new facility and once we get there, we can study before or after because we can use our own Wi-Fi.”

Dusty Boyer, a senior from Ham Lake, Minn., feels the same sense of newfound freedom on the men’s tennis team. “In my first three years here, we could never just go hit some serves for 20 minutes because it wasn’t worth a 40-minute round-trip drive,” he said. “Now that our new facility is basically in our back yard, we can do something any time we want. It’s not that far of a walk. We can have a short practice, a long practice or any kind of practice we want.”

 

 

 

 

Time-Use Efficiency One of New Facilities’ Most Meaningful Benefits

 

Time-use efficiency is one of the most meaningful benefits a student-athlete can have, and that’s why Nebraska made the new complex adjacent to UNL’s Innovation Campus such a high priority. The six to seven-hour weekly gain is not an estimate. It’s a fact, researched diligently by Nebraska tennis coaches and Husker student-athletes.

The pivotal change is comparable to any professional individual accustomed to taking a 40-minute subway ride to and from work, and then, all of sudden, eliminating that transportation hurdle. A fitting footnote to that involves even more time when you consider time spent arriving, waiting and loading.

Making sure the new soccer and tennis complex was located adjacent to Innovation Campus was a high priority to ensure student-athletes could minimize travel time to and from the facility.

“The schedule was so tight, most of the time we didn’t get to take a shower because it was a major inconvenience,” Lehmicke said. “If it was a long practice, a lot of us went straight to class without showering. Now, everything is convenient. We even have laundry service. We drop it off in our facility and boom, it’s done at the end of the day. Our whole experience is so much better than what we had.”

No longer is an entire team held captive for driving to and from a satellite practice site. In the past, “when one person had to go to class, everyone went back together because missing class is not acceptable,” Boyer said. “It was a little bit of a pain, but we all dealt with it. Now, we have the exact opposite kind of experience – everything works!”

The Husker student-athlete tennis experience got a major makeover in every area that counts, enabling both teams to feel cleaner, fresher, sharper and more motivated. “With our new facility, everything’s right there for us,” Boyer said. “Before, after practice, if you wanted to get an ice bath, you had to drive all the way back to the stadium. Now we have ice baths, even an ice box, in our new tennis facility. So everything we need is right there in front of us. We don’t have to go out of our way for anything.”

“When you have big assignments that are due, getting your laundry done is a big deal. It’s just one more little stress that you don’t need to worry about.” – Maggy Lehmicke, Senior, Women’s Tennis

A student-athlete with a 3.75 GPA in Journalism, Lehmicke says the biggest change relates to her No. 1 priority – academics. “I’ve always put plenty of time into studying,” she said. “I spent my entire evening at the student-life complex. I had classes all day with a lunch break, then practice until 5:15, then dinner and then stayed there pretty much all night until 11 o’clock or so before coming home and finishing my homework.”

With a “bit lighter” schedule as a senior, Lehmicke now has “these huge chunks of time during the day where I can study instead of commute,” she said. “I’m not staying up until 11. I’m actually getting sleep. It’s not that I put more time into studying. I’ve never had spare time. It’s a combination of the little things that make a big difference. When you have big assignments that are due, getting your laundry done is a big deal. It’s just one more little stress that you don’t need to worry about.”

The ultimate value of time is as crucial as ever for Lehmicke, who associates those precious moments with the “amount of thinking we have to do to get everything done every day,” she said. “I don’t need to bring my rackets anymore because they’re there when I open my locker. Our coaches don’t need to worry any more about the courts because they’re our courts and available. We make that decision.”

 

 

 

 

Lehmicke: New Facility Has Been the Biggest Relief You Can Imagine

 

Having all of that together “has been the biggest relief you can imagine,” Lehmicke said. “I don’t think it’ll really sink in until we open the season in January. It’s so weird to have all this happen my senior year. I’m so used to running around and getting things done. I never really think much about having some fun or relaxing for a while.”

Both Husker seniors embrace the student-athlete experience and both predict a dramatic shift in Nebraska’s ability to recruit nationally prominent players.

“For a lot of people, a facility is a deal-breaker,” Boyer said. “For me, it wasn’t that big a deal, but having an indoor facility like this on campus will influence most recruits, especially the foreign players. Without it, a lot of players choose to go somewhere else. Now, Nebraska doesn’t have to worry about people not wanting to come here. That’s not a deciding factor for anyone. Once they see what we have, they’ll want to be here.”

Lehmicke agrees. “This is a huge recruiting tool, and a lot of great players are going to want to come here,” she said. “We’ve had recruits that would come here, but when they realize they had to ride just to practice, we’ve lost some. It’s a huge relief from a recruiting standpoint and for all of us who had shorter days because of the travel time.”

The Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Complex also features six indoor courts as well as the outdoor courts to ensure that practice and competition is available year round.

Nebraska’s new home away from home is comfortable. “When we were walking into the facility the other day together, we all started feeling something personal, realizing that this was our locker room and our facility,” Lehmicke said. “We can hang out. Before we were using a public facility that really wasn’t ours. It’s a big difference. It’s hard to describe something when it’s actually ours.

“That’s where the real pride is – being the first to use something designed for all student-athlete tennis players,” Lehmicke said. “Plus, we’ll be right next to soccer for decades to come. It’s really powerful when you get to know the soccer team better and our own men’s tennis team better. Our new tennis center is just a really good tool to help bring the athletic department closer together.

“The camaraderie is a huge factor in this, and the facility is a huge part of the competition,” Lehmicke said. “Last year, it took an incredible amount of mental toughness for us just to get through the spring. We don’t worry about what courts we can play on anymore. Now we can go out there and do what we’re supposed to do as players and coaches. We can focus on the game, the team and having some fun competing. We don’t have to battle all these other things. It’ll be so nice to compete in the Big Ten and try to get some wins this year.”

 

 

 

 

Johnson, Odermann Equally Driven to Leave a Legacy in Soccer

 

Even though Nebraska’s soccer team had a much less dramatic transition moving into its new home, Husker student-athletes appreciate the upgrade. “Hibner Stadium feels like home, just because of the atmosphere it brings and all the new support we get from our fans,” said Jaycie Johnson, a junior forward from Lake Winnebago, Mo. “Hibner Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium. Having night games and playing under the lights feels like I’m right at home. I feel like we belong here. It’s a new year and a new team and we’re trying to start a new legacy for our program.”

Jaylyn Odermann, a senior defender from Gretna, Neb., relishes what she calls the electrifying atmosphere of Hibner Stadium. “It definitely sparks energy,” Odermann said. “I can’t see this program going anywhere but up. With the new facilities and the increase in popularity of women’s and girls’ soccer in Nebraska and the United States in general, I see a very bright future. It was a very special honor to ring in the new stadium. There’s the potential for this to become something truly big. We hope to create a legacy that lives on for years and years to come.”

 

 

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a monthly series highlighting the Nebraska Student-Athlete Experience

Student-Athlete Experience 1: Guatemala Opens Minds

New Facilities Inspire Coaches, Student-Athletes

 

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