The RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center at Rutgers University is a partnership between Rutgers University, Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and RWJBarnabas Health that creates a comprehensive sports medicine program to serve Rutgers athletes, students and communities throughout New Jersey. The center also is a practice venue for gymnastics, wrestling and women’s and men’s basketball.
The 295,000-square-foot, four-story complex, located on 6.2 acres, opened in September 2019. Some 850 tradespeople worked on the $86.7-million project, which now employs 125 full- and part-time staff. The center features nearly 12,000 square feet of gymnastics training area; a 9,000-square-foot wrestling room; two large practice courts for both men’s and women’s basketball; and film study rooms. An on-site medical suite with clinic and exam rooms is used for all student athletics, including football. Other services and facilities in the building include hydrotherapy, two plunge pools, and strength and conditioning areas, plus a “high performance” nutrition café, merchandise store, a student-athlete lounge, and adjacent parking. Locker rooms and office and conference rooms are strategically located for each sport.
The Performance Center also serves as the headquarters for a world-class sports medicine program that can be expanded across the state. RWJBarnabas Health develops and manages the program, which provides Rutgers’ 625 NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletes in 24 sports with an extensive array of healthcare services and advances in sports medicine. The program is comprised of athletic trainers, physical therapists, sports medicine physicians, orthopedic surgeons, sports psychologists, psychiatrists and other behavioral health specialists, sports performance specialists, and nutritional experts. Through this partnership, RWJBarnabas Health has become the exclusive healthcare provider for Rutgers Athletics.
The sports medicine program also aims to advance academic opportunities in sports medicine fields. Affiliated physicians and practitioners can hone their sports medicine skills in a Big Ten practice setting, whether in the new Performance Center, in the renovated Hale Center, or on the sidelines at athletic practices and games.
ARCHITECT
Perkins Eastman
New York
BUILDER
Epic Management, Inc.
Piscataway
NOMINATOR
Matthew Colagiovanni,
Senior Associate
Athletic Director,
Rutgers Athletics
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