Athletics Opens Women’s Performance Center

The Montclair State University Department of Athletics held the grand opening of its new Women’s Performance Center on Wednesday, May 4.

The new facility, located in the Red Hawk Athletic Annex just off Sprague Field, is the first of its kind and comes at a time when the nation is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the groundbreaking legislation signed into law in 1972 that stated that no person the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

“We are thrilled to be able to open the Women’s Performance Center, especially during the celebration of Title IX,” said Director of Athletics Rob Chesney. “The center will greatly benefit the overall athletic experience for our women’s student athletes and help continue the amazing success they have enjoyed over the years. I want to thank the Montclair State University administration as well as our VIP partner Powerade/Coca-Cola® in making this facility come to fruition.”

The center is designed with two rooms, the first containing traditional training equipment with the largest room able to conduct large scale training regimens.

“The new center allows us to be more dynamic in how we train,” said head field hockey coach Eileen O’Reilly. “There is so much more we can do now that we just weren’t able to accomplish within our original Fitness Center. We can do large team activities and also focus on our injury prevention which is such a big part in our training process.”

Over the last decade, Montclair women’s teams have put together a run of success that has produced some of the best seasons in program history. The nine teams have captured 15 conference championships and totaled 25 NCAA Tournament berths, including a national championship game trip for field hockey, a berth in the Final Four for women’s basketball and three consecutive NCAA Division III Softball Championship Tournament appearances as well two individual national championships in track and field.

For more information on Red Hawk Athletics, visit montclairathletics.com.