Athletics gains at USN: input needed

While River Campus improvements are underway with new lighting and a lacrosse rebounding wall, we are seeking your input on our athletics programs and facilities through a Possip survey question Thursday, October 30 and focus groups on Tuesday, November 4 and Wednesday, November 5.
A big thank you to our dozens of Artclectic volunteers for what was a sensational opening night. Today our students will be docented through the show by more volunteers, talking with our artists about their work, journey, and approach — both children and artists are in for a treat. Saturday is another family/child-centered Artclectic day, and we are making sure that folks arriving for that event get parking priority, as we lie so tantalizingly close to the ESPN College GameDay broadcast at Vanderbilt University.

My real message today is about the buzz of activity and strategic thinking around athletics at USN. As we did a month ago with a consultant expert in the visual and performing arts, USN has engaged the services of a premier consulting group to help guide us as we make decisions over the next years about all things sports at USN. As we work on Forward, our strategic plan, and begin a master plan for 2000 Edgehill Avenue and the River Campus, this is the perfect time for us to think big about all the ways in which we hope to be excellent. The Finney Group will visit November 4-5, learning as much about budget, facilities, program, curriculum, and policies as possible. Our monthly Possip survey question that will be sent to parents and families on Thursday, October 30 will provide the first opportunity to share your ideas for athletic-centered improvements to the USN experience. And we have two opportunities for parents to meet in focus groups with the consultants; please find your way to one of these meetings if you can and bring your hopes and dreams:
  • 4-5 p.m. Tuesday, November 4 in Payne Library Room
  • 8:15-9:15 a.m. Wednesday, November 5 in Payne Library Room
Our consultants will also meet with coaches, PE teachers, fitness center staff, trainers, our awesome Tiger Club, Middle and High School students, the Board of Trustees, and administrators in November. And we’ll get a guiding report from them by the middle of December, just in time for our master plan process to launch.

I know any MS soccer or HS cross country family who has been to the River Campus recently will have seen the dramatic changes on that gorgeous 81-acre campus. By the middle of November, we will have solar lighting along the campus drive and in the parking lots. Four fields/spaces will have brand new lighting (baseball, softball, tennis, and Field 2 for girls and boys lacrosse games), while the Zaf Ahmed Track and Ed Costello Soccer Field will be retrofitted with significantly more energy-efficient LED lighting (and some cool gizmos that will let us dazzle with light shows at evening events).

Additionally, for years, USN lacrosse players have asked for and needed a rebounding wall to practice catching and throwing, the essential skills of that fast game. They’ve made do with the brick wall on the back of Durnan Auditorium. Thanks to a group of donors, we will also have the new lacrosse practice wall up in the next few weeks at the River Campus.

Thank you to the generous families who are making these improvements possible, our Board’s hard-working Building & Grounds Committee, our world-class Operations team, and especially our River Campus crew — better known as the glamorous Green Team — for the work on these projects. Can’t wait to see it all in action.

GO TIGERS!

Juliet
Interim Director
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.