Talking Stick - March/April 2018 - 41

connect with a smaller group of close
friends. A recreation lounge on the
second floor, for example, includes widescreen televisions, a pool table, and
even a barber chair, giving students a
place to truly unwind in a community
setting. Locating the living spaces on
the upper floors also provides an important security measure. A reception
desk at the front door of the first floor
ensures that 24-hour staff can closely
monitor building access. A biometric
scanning device is an added measure
that prevents unwanted guests from
gaining access to students' living quarters on the upper two floors.
McCarthy Hall's public spaces give
all residents an opportunity to play
and learn; in many ways, it's like a
living-learning community would be if
James Naismith (who founded Kansas'
basketball program in 1898) had
combined student development theory
with his original rules for basketball.
A 1,000-square-foot event room and
kitchen host a wide variety of events
from team dinners to residence life
programs. An adjacent scaled-down
basketball court gives all residents a
place to play. While anyone can shoot
around, the players can also work on
their game at their own leisure, or a
group of them can quickly explore an
idea at the spur of the moment and go
to the court to walk through a play. The
building's 25-seat theater is a place for
both focus and fun. At times a study
space of sorts, the theater allows student athletes to review films together,
with the opportunity to learn together
from their games and practices. It is
also an important social space for the
community, where students gather
to watch away games and residents
gather as an entire community for
movies.
The design of these public and living spaces embraces the philosophy of
bringing all members of the McCarthy
Hall community together. All of the
building's public spaces are accessed
equally by athletes and other residents.

And because all students reside in living units with the same square footage
and layout, the population is mixed
evenly throughout the building. In fact,
the only difference between the student
and student athlete apartments is the
placement of vanities and showerheads,
which are higher to account for the
physical stature of student athletes. Not
surprisingly, other elements throughout the building also account for their
physical stature, like eight-foot-tall door
frames and oversized furniture. Thenhousing director Diana Robertson told
Athletic Business, "The physical structure
itself is tailored to them. These are kids
who, when they're in standard rooms,
hotel rooms, traveling, around campus,
everywhere they go, they are ducking
their heads. It's nice to be able to offer
them a home that is the right size for
them."
Athlete-centered residence
halls also present unique opportunities to focus on the student body, as it
were. These residents must be healthy,
well rested, well nourished, and fit to
perform at an elite level. This requires
time, specialized training, energy,
and the right space. Student athletes
need quiet and seclusion for rest and
right-sized spaces to properly relax; an
Ikea Poang chair or even the standard
twin extra-long bed may not quite cut
it for a 270-pound linebacker. Learning
the lifestyle of an elite athlete is also a
part of the student athlete's education.
Coaches, trainers, and nutritionists
all work to inform lifestyle choices.
Having access to the right nutrition
and training regimen can mean the
difference between an athlete hitting a
peak performance and hitting the wall.
For example, one of the "biggest misconceptions [among athletes] is how
much they need to eat and how often
they should eat," said Jordan Mazur,
then-director of sports nutrition at the
University of California Berkeley, in an
interview with Sound Probiotics. "Most
nutrition info in the media is geared

PLAYING BY
THE RULES
* NCAA 15.2.2: "An institution may
provide a student-athlete financial
aid that includes the cost of room
and board, based on the official
allowance for a room as listed in
the institution's official publication (e.g., catalog) and a board
allowance that consists of three
meals per day or the institution's
maximum meal plan that is available to all students, whichever is
greater."
* NCAA 16.5.1: "An institution is
required to apply the same housing policies to student-athletes
as it applies to the student body
in general. During the academic
year, the institution may not house
student-athletes in athletics dormitories or athletics blocks within
institutional or privately-owned
dormitories or apartment buildings . . ."
* NCAA 16.5.1.1: "Athletics dormitories shall be defined as institutional dormitories in which at
least 50 percent of the residents
are student-athletes."
* NCAA 16.5.1.2: "Athletics blocks
shall be defined as individual
blocks, wings or floors within institutional dormitories or privately
owned dormitories or apartment
buildings in which at least 50 percent of the residents are studentathletes."
(from the 2016-17 NCAA Division I
Manual)

MARCH + APRIL 2018

Talking Stick - March/April 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - March/April 2018