The Wolverine

February 2018

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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46 THE WOLVERINE FEBRUARY 2018 HOME SWEET HOME Athletics South Competition And Performance Project Opens To A Standing Ovation BY JOHN BORTON Michigan athletics is going south — in a good way. In fact, in a gleaming, jaw- dropping, $145-million way. The recent completion of the Athletics South Competition and Performance Proj- ect added indoor and outdoor tracks, a lacrosse stadium, a vitally needed indoor rowing tank, training and medical facilities galore, and more. Michigan now features 500-plus competitors — more than half of its overall student-athletes — calling the Athletics South campus home. It all makes for one proud, and grateful, athletics director and his lieutenants. "The reaction has been outstand- ing," said Rob Rademacher, executive senior associate AD and chief operat- ing officer. "Everyone is loving it." Rademacher and other Michigan officials marched a media contingent through the newly completed project in early January, and the reaction there involved all the anticipated esteem. They witnessed an underwater treadmill, where athletes can step into the enclosed glass casing, watching the water depth fill up to four feet, eight inches in 2.5 minutes. The ath- letes can then work out, with cameras delivering to screens in front of them any gait imperfections. When they're done, the tank drains in 90 seconds, and they're on their way. The tour highlighted an anti-gravity treadmill, capable of offloading up to 90 percent of a runner's weight, al- lowing for cardio work without the joint stress. One athlete secured into the device appeared to be flying while she ran. "If we put you in there, we can al- most make you weightless," explained Darryl Conway, senior associate AD and chief health and welfare officer. "Instead of the pounding you're hav- ing from running on land or running on a treadmill, we can offload your weight. You're getting the same car- diovascular workout, but you're run- ning at maybe 10 percent or 20 percent of your weight. "That decreases the stress on your joints. Track and cross country use

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