Don't use the 'F' word

April 7, 2005
By Dan Tomlin
Sports Editor

Facilities, Facilities, Facilities.
We all complain about them, or the lack of them, but seldom does anyone look at the good aspects of the sports facilities here at St. Ambrose.

Are our facilities inadequate for the sports teams we field? Maybe. Do the teams we compete against have better facilities? Maybe, maybe not.
While most of our teams vie for basketball court space to practice on during the winter months it is uplifting to see the student athletes harbor no ill will towards another athletic program.

No one has it perfect, but there are things that can be done or frames of mind that can be had to better the situation regardless of what sport you play.

Whether or not you have all the facilities to run a perfect practice is not necessary, There are certain sacrifices that must be made to continue the tradition of excellence at St. Ambrose.

The tradeoff for lack of facilities in the past has been winning. During my four years at St. Ambrose I have seen teams succeed and teams fail.

Teams work hard and teams crumble. The teams that strive to do the best regardless of the situation are the teams that overachieve and eventually are the most productive ones.

Athletics is about adversity. Every time you compete there is someone or something out there that is trying to beat you. The inability to be able to adapt and deal with the adversity of practice facilities shows poor desire.

What the school lacks in facilities it makes up for in sheer desire. If someone is committed enough to participate in a sport they’re willing to make the necessary sacrifices that go along with it.

There are examples everywhere from midnight volleyball practices to 5 a.m. baseball workouts. Yes we only have two batting cages, but surprisingly enough, almost every year both the baseball and softball teams go into their final 5-6 games with a chance to win the conference championship.

Every team has their story of how it could be better or nicer, but at the end of the day you've got a group of athletes working together for one purpose, and regardless of where you're practicing, the fact of the matter is that being an athlete is a priviledge and a responsibility.
Is it a perfect world? No, but then again not much in life is perfect.

It’s important to remember that while St. Ambrose may not have the best facilities in the world we’re still awfully lucky for what we do have.

We have more facilities than some schools, and while our school size has grown rapidly over the past decade our facilities have not grown in the same ratio.

The most amazing part of the entire facilities argument is that there has been little to no drop off in talent, as St. Ambrose is slowly but surely becoming an NAIA national powerhouse, a school that is always contending for championships nationally.

Going to national events, the name St. Ambrose has become more and more recognizable as the years go by, and this can be credited to the success Bee's teams have had on a national level.

The successes of the school over the past few years should overshadow the facilities problem, yet this F word and the controversy around it are not that easily avoided.

The answer to the facilities problem is not one that can be addressed right now, and so it’s important to celebrate the accomplishments of the teams and individuals that make up the St. Ambrose University Athletics, because it is the players and teams that make winning seasons, not the facilities.

There's a cetrain amount of pride that comes in winning when you know that you've worked harder than your opponent, and providing adequate facilities has given St. Ambrose the ability to field numerous teams and put countless students through college, and that is really the main goal.

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