The locker room for women’s soccer
Photo: Isabel Marzullo/The Bona Venture
BY: ISABEL MARZULLO, FEATURES EDITOR
The women’s soccer and lacrosse teams must share a locker room, as well as the men’s baseball and soccer teams. Because of this layout, teams do not have locker room access during their off-season, forcing players to carry multiple backpacks and wear practice clothes around campus, Ryan Cling, senior executive deputy director of athletics, said.
“I would tell female athletes, as well as male athletes, to speak to the administration about their concerns,” said Cling. “There may be factors that the administration isn’t aware of, hence including additional touchpoints to hear directly from our student population.”
The university intends to create additional locker room space through the second phase of the Athletics Pillar of the Bolder Bonaventure Campaign. However, facilities must move out of the lower level of the Riley Center before the university can start adding space.
“The locker room spacing has been an issue for a long time; the issue is based on space first and then funding to build,” said Cling. “We aren’t able to actively fundraise for individual locker rooms until we can create the space and infrastructure for them to exist.”
Cling said adding more locker rooms is a top priority for the sports department and hopes to include more for strength and conditioning and sports medicine to offer the best experience possible for student-athletes.
