Locker room to be built in accordance with Title IX
The board of trustees recently approved plans to build a new locker room for the equestrian team in accordance with Title IX. The plans, which have no start date for construction presently, are estimated to cost USC $495,000, according to Executive Associate Athletic Director Kevin O'Connell.
The team currently has a lounge area, but no actual locker room to accommodate the riders' needs, according to Head Coach Boo Major.
"We have been in need of a locker room for a while; we have what we call a lounge area in one of our barns, but as our team has expanded from twenty or twenty-five to forty people, the lounge area we have in the barn has become too small," Major said. "We've just outgrown it."
Redshirt sophomore and 2010-2011 All-American Johnna Letchworth agrees that the upgrade is needed.
"When we won the National Championship in the 2004-2005 season, we had 27 members on the team. Now on the 2011-2012 team we have 40 members," Letchworth said. "Even with the increase in team members the space has remained the same, which is why a new locker room is needed."
The lounge, adjacent to the team's Blythewood equestrian center at One Wood Farm, is a one-room facility with what Major called minimal amenities.
"Its just a room with two sinks, a refrigerator, one shower and two toilets," Major said. "It's nice, but it's not big enough for 40 people."
A recent visit from a gender equity consultant deemed the new construction necessary, O'Connell said. He added that the new facility will be a vast improvement upon the current one.
"It will be brand new and much larger, about 2,200 square feet, with 40 lockers and a meeting room," O'Connell said. "It will be much larger, much nicer and more in line with other locker rooms for other athletes."
There will also be a room for riders' tack built next to the locker room.
"One of the things we've had issues with is that a lot of the student-athletes bring their own saddles. We have a place where they can store them, but it's really out of the way," Major said. "We'll add on a saddle room next door where students can go and access their own riding equipment. It's a really nice addition as well because a lot of the girls [currently] keep their saddles in their cars."
While no start date has been announced for construction, once begun, the project is expected to take six months.
"We hope to start next year but it's all dependent on funding," O'Connell said. "The ideal situation is for it to take place from April to September."
That time frame would allow construction to occur without disrupting practices, but if the work was to go on during the season, it may prove slightly problematic, as the locker room will be built next to the covered ring in which the team practices.
"We'll just have to get used to it," Major said. "The horses don't mind the noise, but they do have to get used to the movement. Horses are very timid animals and they can get easily startled if someone makes a sudden movement like standing up quickly from a crouch. We've talked about putting a screen up so the horses can't see out to the construction."
The Athletics department hopes to minimize any interference with practice during construction, however.
"We want to try to be sensitive to the coach, the athletes and the horses," O'Connell said. "We want to have the least amount of intrusion into their daily lives."
USC hopes adding the locker room will increase the team's appeal to potential riders.
"We already have one of the best college facilities in the country, but the locker room area has quite honestly been one of the missing pieces," Letchworth said. "When we're bringing in top-level recruits, we can have the best horses, great stables and all of the other great things like the Dodie Academic Enrichment Center, but a team's locker room is a crucial element to the makeup and chemistry of the team. This new locker room is going to be terrific and will really help our program stand out."