The Wesley Brown Field House is a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

. It is located between the 7th Wing of

Bancroft Hall Bancroft Hall, at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Annapolis, Maryland, is said to be the largest contiguous set of academic dormitories in the U.S. Bancroft Hall, named after former United States Secretary of the Navy, U. ...

and Santee Basin. The facility houses

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

, varsity sports, club sports, and personal-fitness programs and

equipment Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by ...

. It is home to the Midshipmen women's volleyball team, men's and women's indoor track and field teams, men's wrestling, women’s lacrosse team and sixteen club sports. It also serves as the practice space for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and women's volleyball teams. There is also a centralized sports-medicine facility. The building has a total room area of , eight locker rooms, and 300 lockers.Wesley Brown Field House
official webpage. Retrieved 2010-02-09. The field house has a full-length, , retractable Magic Carpet

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...

football field. When the field is retracted, students can then use the 200-meter AstroTurf track with a Mondo track surface and hydraulically-controlled banked curves and three permanent

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor ...

s. In four to six hours, the indoor track-and-field can be changed to an indoor football practice field, including target

goalposts In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or Hockey puck, puck in order to Score (sport), score points. The structure of a goal varies from spor ...

for placekicking practice. The

synthetic Synthetic may refer to: Science * Synthetic biology * Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis * Synthetic elements, chemical elements that are not naturally found on Earth and therefore have to be created in ...

playing surface (with football-field yard-lines) is stored on a spool at the field house's south end. The surface is put in place by nine winches and an 18-port air-blower that makes the

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

float across the field-house floor while being deployed and retracted. The weight room is one of three "strength and conditioning facilities" at the academy. With , it serves the members of the following teams: men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's track, golf,

sprint football Sprint football is a varsity sport played by United States colleges and universities, under standard American football rules. Since the 2022 season, the sport has been governed by the Collegiate Sprint Football League and the Midwest Sprint Footba ...

, volleyball, water polo, and women's lacrosse. The facility is named for the first African American to graduate from the Academy, retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley A. Brown, who graduated in 1949. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 25, 2006. Brown wielded a shovel in the groundbreaking. Hensel Phelps Construction Company constructed the field house, which was completed in March 2008. The U.S.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) is the United States Navy's engineering systems command, providing the Navy and United States Marine Corps with facilities and expeditionary expertise. NAVFAC is headquartered at the Wash ...

(NAVFAC) administered the contract for construction. The building was dedicated on May 10, 2008. Brown participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler, and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Also present were almost one thousand guests.

Footnotes

External links

Wesley Brown Field House
official webpage
Photos
of interior (26 images) and exterior (30 images). By Blake Marvin. Retrieved 2010-02-09.

USNA official website. Retrieved 2010-02-09. {{USNA College lacrosse venues in the United States Navy Midshipmen sports venues Sports venues in Maryland Indoor arenas in Maryland Lacrosse venues in Maryland Indoor lacrosse venues in the United States Sports venues completed in 2008 United States Naval Academy buildings and structures 2008 establishments in Maryland

See also

Footnotes

External links