Drew
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UCF AD: Lazy river will float the boat for recruits
I never thought I would say this, but UCF Athletics Director Danny White is absolutely right when he says a lazy river and miniature golf course are absolutely imperative if the Knights expect their football team to compete for championships.
A few days ago, White released his vision for the future — a plan for $25 million in upgrades that would enhance UCF’s football and other sports facilities.
The sports nutrition center (fancy name for cafateria-style training table) is probably the most important upgrade, but the one that has gotten all the notoriety is a resort-style lazy river — aka “Recovery Cove” — that runs through the athletic complex. Even Cosmopolitan magazine wrote a story about it for its website. The headline: “Maybe Consider Applying to This College Which Is Adding a Lazy River for Student Athletes.”
On the surface, this all might seem like wasteful spending, but in today’s world it’s actually necessary if you want to be competitive for the top recruits. These days, college football programs are building indoor laser tag facilities, bowling lanes, barber shops and smoothie bars. Colleges are not only luring recruits by showing them where they will eat, sleep and train, but also where they can kick back, relax and enjoy themselves.
“There’s such a small percentage of athletes who are good enough to help us win championships in a specific sport,” White told us on our Open Mike radio show the other day. “If they got that good, chances are they spend an awful lot of time training and practicing their sport and, so, the facilities they’re going to compete in — and, more importantly, train in — are very, very important. Our competitors are constantly investing in facilities, but with our weather we can pretty efficiently create a wow factor that allows us to compete nationally.”
Thus, the lazy river, the miniature golf course and the beach volleyball courts.
I never thought I would say this, but UCF Athletics Director Danny White is absolutely right when he says a lazy river and miniature golf course are absolutely imperative if the Knights expect their football team to compete for championships.
A few days ago, White released his vision for the future — a plan for $25 million in upgrades that would enhance UCF’s football and other sports facilities.
The sports nutrition center (fancy name for cafateria-style training table) is probably the most important upgrade, but the one that has gotten all the notoriety is a resort-style lazy river — aka “Recovery Cove” — that runs through the athletic complex. Even Cosmopolitan magazine wrote a story about it for its website. The headline: “Maybe Consider Applying to This College Which Is Adding a Lazy River for Student Athletes.”
On the surface, this all might seem like wasteful spending, but in today’s world it’s actually necessary if you want to be competitive for the top recruits. These days, college football programs are building indoor laser tag facilities, bowling lanes, barber shops and smoothie bars. Colleges are not only luring recruits by showing them where they will eat, sleep and train, but also where they can kick back, relax and enjoy themselves.
“There’s such a small percentage of athletes who are good enough to help us win championships in a specific sport,” White told us on our Open Mike radio show the other day. “If they got that good, chances are they spend an awful lot of time training and practicing their sport and, so, the facilities they’re going to compete in — and, more importantly, train in — are very, very important. Our competitors are constantly investing in facilities, but with our weather we can pretty efficiently create a wow factor that allows us to compete nationally.”
Thus, the lazy river, the miniature golf course and the beach volleyball courts.
