New St. Mary's team house near completion

“This really is a very exciting time at St. Mary’s. This is the first major improvement we’ve had to our facilities, the school or the parish in the last 10 years,” school president Fred Haller said. “This has been something that’s really been a desperate need for us. Our athletes have not had the space they need, the space that represents the quality of programs we have, the quality of athletes and the quality of coaches. This really ups the game for all of us.”

Though a new stadium opened in 2007, there still wasn’t a fully functional team house to accommodate the teams that would use the stadium. The nearby Stallings house is a home that was converted into locker room facilities, but did not have the amenities the new team house does.

There are locker rooms for boys and girls that can be accessed directly from the outside, coaches meeting rooms and weight training facilities that all athletes can use throughout the year.

The facility also includes public restrooms that will replace the portable restrooms offered in the past. Previously, any indoor workouts, such as offseason conditioning and weight training, were held at the school. Now, all teams will have access to the facility year-round and multiple teams can work out in the facility at the same time. The weights themselves even feature a St. Mary’s logo.

 

With other teams in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland offering such a high level of competition and with many of them having access to the best training facilities, the school saw the team house as a need.

“It’s a state-of-the-art facility, and that was our goal all along,” Fondale said. “We’re competing at the highest level in great conferences, so it’s a state-of-the-art facility just like our competitors.”

The upper level of the building includes a large conference room that will serve as a parish ministry meeting room. The space also features an outdoor balcony that overlooks the field. The ministry was previously using a room at nearby St. John Neumann Church.