By Abigail Funk
One of the largest facilities of its kind, the Boo Williams Sportsplex is set to open in Hampton, Va., in March—less than one year after breaking ground on the project.
Marcellus Spencer Williams Jr. is better known by his nickname Boo Williams, and may be best known for his work in the youth basketball world, at one time coaching NBA players J.J. Redick, Alonzo Mourning, and Allen Iverson on his elite AAU basketball team. But a new facility in Hampton, Va., named after its hometown icon will include facilities for many other sports as well. The Boo Williams Sportsplex, set to open in mid-March, will include spaces for soccer, field hockey, volleyball, martial arts, lacrosse, wrestling, track and field, dance, and paintball, in addition to basketball.
Advertisement
"There aren't many similar facilities of this size, especially in this area," says Brian Caro, one of the architects on the project. "It's a pretty good trek just from one end of the building to the other. We're really proud of it."
Playing and practice facilities include eight basketball courts—with scoreboards by All-Star Scoreboards, 12 volleyball courts, eight indoor hockey fields, and a 200-meter six-lane indoor track surfaced by Beynon Sports Surfaces. There is also a general fitness gym, speed and conditioning facilities, meeting rooms, an operation center for media members with internet access, a large registration area, concessions areas, a banquet room, and two athletic training rooms.
The Sportsplex was built in less than one year by the Ritchie-Curbow Construction Company of Newport News, Va. And there are already over 30 events scheduled in the next six months, including the Nike Boo Williams Spring Invitation in April, the ESPN Cheerleading and Dance Battle in May, and select AAU Boys' and Girls' National Basketball Championships in July.
"In order to finance a project like this, you have to prove that it's financially viable," Caro explains. "And to do that, you book events. Boo had to book all these events to show the financing institutions that the building would eventually pay for itself. So once the events were booked, we had our time table, and it was a short one.
"Along with the speed of this project, there were also many adjustments," Caro continues. "Adjustments made on the fly were really the key to making this work. There were many ideas that were started, tried, and abandoned over the course of the project. But Boo was very flexible in that he never set his heart on any one thing to the exclusion of everything else, and that helped him achieve the speed needed to finish this project."
Williams partnered with local investors and the city of Hampton, Va., to make the Sportsplex a reality. An ambassador of youth sports and the current AAU chairman of Boys Basketball, Williams also sits on the USA/ABA Cadet Committee for Development of Future Olympians. His hope for the Sportsplex is that it will become a “destination” for many youth athletes.
The Sportsplex will also be home to the Boo Williams Summer League, an AAU basketball program he started in 1982 that has grown from four to 165 teams, and currently boasts over 2,000 male and female participants. Williams played at St. Joseph’s University—where he is in the hall of fame—as well as a stint in a European pro league. His love for basketball and youth sports has never escaped him, and with the Boo Williams Sportsplex, he can be in the middle of it all every single day.
Resources
For more information on Boo Williams, visit his Web site at: www.boowilliamsbball.com.
For more information on the Boo Williams Sportsplex, including a blog written by Williams, visit the Web site at: www.boowilliamssportsplex.com.
Abigail Funk is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.