By Gerry Gilmour – New Century Press
Out there in southwest Fargo, they’re putting the final touches on the $2.5 million Sanford POWER Center.
The 24,000-square-foot blue-and-white beauty is situated between Scheels Arena and what will become the third Fargo-Moorhead YMCA.
“This facility is for anyone and everyone,” says center director Randy Martin. “It provides a whole new venue of high-intensity training on the surfaces athletes will be playing on.”
He says the facility is for athletes of all ages, levels and abilities.
The public is invited to a grand opening from noon to 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19.
Come out that day and under the big top you will see:
A 25-yard artificial turf training surface.
Four 50-yard sprint/running lanes, one of which is at an incline.
A half-court basketball training area.
Sports-specific training and conditioning equipment.
A physical and rehabilitative center staffed by three Sanford physical therapists (Jason Burud, Mike Crockett and Cathy Wokon).
A hockey training center featuring synthetic ice and a state-of-the-art skating treadmill.
Martin, a graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead with a masters’ degree in exercise physiology from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, says the treadmill helps hockey players concentrate on their stride mechanics.
The synthetic ice is used by trainers to help hockey players work on use of their inside and outside skate edges.
“We’re redefining how hockey players prepare for competition,” says Phil Faught, a Sanford trainer who also works as head trainer for the Fargo Force, the United States Hockey League junior team that plays at adjacent Scheels Arena.
Faught, a graduate of the University of North Dakota, says the POWER center gives the Force space to warm up as a team.
The center also has six squat racks, compared to just two at Scheels Arena. “What they need from me is to get bigger and stronger,” Faught says. Junior players are typically 16 to 20 years old.
POWER programs are offered through Sanford Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. Times can be reserved by individuals, small groups and sports teams by calling (701) 234-8999.
FSR is among the groups taking advantage of the new facility. Marilyn Laliberte, co-director of the group (Faster.Stronger. Runner.), meets each Wednesday and Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the center as part of its fall training session, which begins Sept. 21 and runs through mid-December. They’ll do a group run on Wednesdays from the center and Fridays, work on hip and core strengthening.
“We concentrate on getting stronger and injury prevention,” Laliberte says. For more information on FSR call (701) 799-2488 or (701) 866-2536.
Paul Finstead, executive director of the YMCA of Cass and Clay counties, says the POWER center is a great addition to the area’s wide offering of fitness facilities. Family Wellness, a joint project of the YMCA and Sanford Health, opens next month.
“It’s going to just be a huge fitness complex out there,” Finstead says. “They (Sanford) really complement what we’re doing and I think we complement some of what they’re doing.”
(Gilmour is District Manager for New Century Press and editor of The Extra).