With the closure of Coles Sports Center, students will be crowding over to the Palladium athletic facility, the next closest gym on campus. Coles has served as the home for NYU basketball and volleyball games since September 1981 and is also where many teams hold their practices. With the renovation of Coles come positives and negatives. Coles’ location has always been convenient to students for its proximity to campus. With a renovation Coles will be able to upgrade the things that are outdated, however current students are unlikely to see these changes, as they will take several years.

Men’s and women’s basketball games attract a lot of hype from students and basketball players are dissatisfied that they will not be able to practice and have home games in Coles. Freshman NYU basketball forward Jay Murphy said he’ll feel the struggle of having to travel away from the Coles Sports Center just to play.

“I’ll definitely miss Coles while it is being renovated,” Murphy said. “No athlete wants to travel to a separate college’s gym to have practice or a home game, but more specifically, the ability to walk to practice or a game will be missed.”

Junior women’s basketball guard Amy Harioka feels that renovating Coles will not only logistically affect the Violets, but also the way they interact with each other.

“I think that the closure of Coles will really take away a sense of community for the student-athletes because we consider it our home,” Harioka said. “Even when we don’t have practices or game, we are always there to just hang out.”

The women’s volleyball team, though not in season, will have to relocate their offseason practices and workouts to a different location.

“Coles has provided us with many unforgettable memories and experiences,” Singh said. “It is also the home for the varsity athlete community and it is a huge part of our identity.”

Men’s volleyball season kicks off at the beginning of the spring semester, just as Coles will shut down. The team, which has been practicing in Coles and Palladium for the entirety of the offseason, will have to adjust to calling a different place their home court. Sophomore libero Ben Oxnard is concerned with practice location and how this will affect time management and support.

“Having to practice and play away from campus will definitely pose a time management challenge,” Oxnard said. “NYU does not offer priority registration to its athletes so this will complicate the teams schedules as well as add stress to the athletes to complete school work and obligations to the team.”

Women’s softball and men’s baseball teams have been using Coles as their practice center for decades. Freshman pitcher and first baseman Katherine Piorkowski said she had mixed feelings about the relocation of training to Palladium and is concerned with the overlap of many sports converging to one smaller location.

“Although it is obvious that the building is old and can use some renovation, I always enjoyed training at that facility,” Piorkowski said. “Palladium is a smaller space and I’m curious as to how all the sports both varsity and club will be able to train in there. I’m excited to see what the new gym will look like in coming years.”

Freshman first baseman Gabe Bassil is more welcoming of the new change and said he would prefer an on campus athletic facility, but hopes the renovation will improve the athletes’ experience.

“From the University standpoint, I can understand why this is being done and that the final product is going to be worth the wait,” Bassil said.
Email Ashley Arnold at [email protected].