Campus Chronicle

Issue date: 6/24/03 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Michael Radziewicz Top rate facilities prep players for the upcoming season

Soldier Field. Wrigley Field. The United Center. Comiskey before it was U.S. Cellular Field. These are the places that great people play great sports.

UIC cannot claim the history and lore that surround any of those arenas, but the Flames have plenty of newer facilities to make history of their own.

The most notable campus sports facility is the UIC Pavilion. Recently renovated, the Pavilion seats 8,000 and hosts the men’s and women’s basketball home games and some volleyball games. Although it is less intimate that some other Horizon League gyms, the size helps to ensure that there is not a bad seat in the house.

“I think to have a true college experience, everybody should go to at least one home basketball game,” says graduate student Jason Lukasik, “the Pavilion is just as good as the United Center to watch basketball.”

This fall the Pavilion will host the UIC Invitational volleyball tournament. The Flames will face 2002 Horizon League regular-season champion, Loyola, along with Northwestern, a 2002 NCAA participant, and Southeast Conference foe Mississippi.

While the Pavilion is the biggest on-campus arena, most of the Flame teams play their seasons off of Roosevelt Road on the South Campus.

The Flames Athletic Center, FAC, was opened in 1999, and the new-car scent is still fresh. Most of the women’s volleyball games are held in the FAC and the facility is also the site of basketball practices.

Senior Julie Kim compares FAC to Loyola’s home court.

“I have been to an away volleyball game at Loyola, and it doesn’t come close to the excitement of a side-out at FAC.”

Primarily used by UIC’s student athletes and staff, FAC is 50,000-square foot practice facility and features two NCAA regulation-sized basketball courts; a two-story weight training and cardio-fitness center; an in-house sports medicine facility; locker rooms for UIC student-athletes and offices for the basketball, baseball and athletic administration staff. It is easy to see why it remains a regular hangout for UIC’s student athletes.

Baseball is played on Les Miller Field and the catchers and spectators get a beautiful view of the South Loop skyline. The venue is named for former UIC coach Les Miller who coached the Flames from 1949 to 1979. There are also heated bathrooms for a quick seventh-inning stretch.

Just south of Les Miller, the softball team challenges visitors to a fast-pitch paced duel. Adjacent to the baseball and softball complex is Flames field, where the soccer team routinely challenge city rivals DePaul and Loyola.

UIC’s tennis facility features six hard courts and is lighted for night contests. It is located right behind the Physical Education Building.

Inside the PEB, a fish out of water can find solace. The Natatorium is regarded as one of the best facilities in the league and played host to the 2002 Horizon League Championships. The facility provides for both a 50-and 100-meter lane setup, as well as two diving boards at both the one and three-meter height.

The Physical Education Building is also home to the high-flying, nationally ranked men's and women's gymnastics teams. And each January, the UIC men's gymnastics team welcomes the top squads from across the country to Windy City Invitational.

During the season, the teams compete with some off the best teams in the region such as Army and Illinois. The women have been the best team in the state for the past several years, outscoring Illinois State University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Northern Illinois.

With top-rated facilities and high-ranked competition, all of the Flames teams are poised to have terrific seasons, and with fans filling the seats of the venues, history just might be made.

Sports editor Sayward Wyatt can be reached at swyatt@chicagoflame.com

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