With three All-Americans and a roster that returns all but one starter, the Nebraska volleyball program enters the 2005 season with talent, experience, and momentum. 

The Nebraska Athletic Department is contributing even more excitement to the anticipation of the 2005 season with the addition of a state-of- -the-art indoor facility for volleyball. 

The Memorial Stadium Expansion Project will benefit all of Nebraska athletics, and volleyball will be a huge benefactor of the sparkling new facilities being constructed near the volleyball team’s home court at the NU Coliseum. 

Beach Patrol

The biggest benefit the Husker volleyball program will receive from the new facility is the international-sized sand volleyball court, which is 8 by 16 meters.

“We want to still be able to train in the off-season,” Head Coach John Cook said, “but do it in the sand so it reduces the amount of pounding on their bodies, so we can still train them and condition them but do it so it’s easier on their joints, so they’ll have longer careers.”

Not only does playing in the sand help strengthen ankles, but it helps reduce injury because sand provides more cushion and is easier on the legs, back and joints.  It also helps athletes simulate training in higher altitudes, which is an environment that helps increase performance. 

According to Volleyball Strength Coach Laura Pilakowski, a former two-time All-American outside hitter at Nebraska, playing sand volleyball also helps your total game. 

“You just have to be able to read the court, communicate with the other person, and really have shots," Pilakowski said. "You can’t just hit it as hard as you can in the sand, and that’s one thing that really helped me because the next year when I went out on the court, I was able to hit more of the shots, and kind of see the other side of the court more.”

The indoor sand court will be the first one installed at a university.  With this court being the only one of its kind, Cook and Associate Athletic Director Boyd Epley wanted to set the standard as high as possible.  Cook only wanted a sand pit, but Epley gave him a whole court.     

“I think one of the greatest things about this is that Boyd Epley always thinks on the cutting edge, he thinks outside the box.” 

Epley and Cook didn’t stop with just putting in the Olympic-sized court.  They took the extra step to make sure even the sand inside the court was worthy of the impressive new complex. 

“Boyd has said it’s championship facilities for championship teams,” Cook said.  “We’re going to put a special kind of sand in there, and it’s actually been washed and polished, so it doesn’t have dust.  It’ll be like the Bahamas.”

Much like the sand used in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the court was filled with a remarkable surface so the team didn’t have to deal with the haziness of dust that Midwest sand can create. 

Thanks to a generous contribution of washed and polished sand from NEBCO, the only haze coming from the sand court will be from the smoke of volleyballs blasted from the cannon-armed Husker hitters.  

Since the sand was inspired by the 2004 Olympics, it’s only fitting that 2004 beach volleyball gold medal Misty May will help dedicate the new, innovative court when it’s ready for play. 

The Quest for a Championship

The Huskers train as hard as anybody in the country during the off-season.  This new facility will only enhance one of the most effective strength and conditioning programs in the country. 

“Again, being on the cutting edge of everything that we do, we’re already well known across the country in recruiting especially, that Nebraska has a strength program and we do a great job with that,” Cook said.  “But now we’re adding one more thing to it to make it even greater.”   

Not only will the Huskers gain an edge from their sand volleyball court, but they will be able to train in one of three facilities for any plyometrics or agility drills Pilakowski offers to athletes. 

“In conditioning we will have the football field, the indoor facility, and the Cook Pavilion, so we’ll have those three areas that we can work with,” Pilakowski said.   

Husker volleyball will also get to use squat racks specifically allocated for women’s sports, which is necessary according to Pilakowski for safety reasons. 

Now women’s teams won’t have to spend time unloading squat racks to an acceptable weight for female athletes.  It’s just another reason why Cook is excited about his team working out in a great facility like the new weight room. 

“I know volleyball is respected and embraced by Husker Power,” Cook said.  “I think that is something that makes Nebraska unique, that our athletes are considered on the same level as any other athlete here at the university.”

Health and Nutrition

Another luxurious feature of the new facility is the state-of-the-art athletic medicine facility that is being built. 

According to Head Athletic Trainer Jerry Weber, the services that athletic training provide are as important as any other an athlete would receive at Nebraska. 

“If you get injured on the college level, you only have a finite amount of time to play,” Weber said.  “You only have five years to play four, and you can’t sit out for a couple years to get something better, so the amount of health care you receive is very important.”

The crown jewel of the new athletic training facility is the beautiful new water rehabilitation area. 

“The water rehab area is going to be probably second-to-none in the country.  The sooner you get (athletes)  back doing functional activities that are closely related to what they’re going to be doing as an athlete, the better you are.”

Along with separate hot and cold therapy pools, the athletic medicine area will feature a 60 foot by 12 feet pool that has three 4-foot-wide lanes, each of which will be at different height to accommodate the diverse height of athletes.  The pool is also equipped with an integrated treadmill and resistance jets. 

Water rehab is not the only bonus to the new athletic training facility. 

“Being able to have separate rehab areas, separate taping areas, we’re basically going to have medical wing where we’ll have like a clinic,” Weber said, referring to the pharmacy, X-ray and emergency room suites, and doctors offices that will be included in the athletic training facility.   “It’s just going to make it more efficient.  It’s the top facility in the country.”

Another vital aspect of an athlete’s performance is their nutrition.  Nebraska is one of only a handful of universities in the country to have a full-time nutritionist on staff. 

James Harris is Nebraska’s coordinator of sports nutrition, and the new facility will provide him with new amenities that he can pass on to student-athletes as well.  Three hydration stations and two supplement distribution locations will be installed throughout the Myers Performance Center to ensure that regardless of an athlete’s workout location, the will have access to the provisions they need. 

“You work out, you tear your body down,” Harris said.  “You push yourself harder and harder to tear your body down and then nutrition helps you recover.”

“With the new facility I’m going to do some things where I estimate calories.  What that will do is it’ll allow me to go to a practice, monitor what they’re doing, and determine how many calories they’re running, so I can better advise them as to what kind of things they should be taking in.”

A Winning Combination

With the new facilities being built at Nebraska, the final ingredients are being mixed in to create a recipe of success for Husker volleyball that will help keep the program at the top. 

With this brand new complex, Nebraska will have all the tools necessary to add another national championship banner to the already crowded rafters at the NU Coliseum. 

The team will train hard with the new sand court and weight room, but the facilities will allow the volleyball team to maximize their performance by addressing all of the team’s performance needs.  On top of training hard, the Huskers will uphold a higher level of wellness with the new athletic medicine area, as well as a healthy diet with the nutrition department. 

This new state-of-the-art facility is just another example of why there is no place like Nebraska.