On October 10, members of the Saint Anselm College community gathered to break ground on the Van Hoof Athletic Complex.
The facility will include an eight-lane track, a synthetic turf soccer field, sophisticated LED lighting, spectator seating, and a multipurpose building with locker rooms. Design and planning for the facility, which may be completed in phases, is underway. The Van Hoof Athletic Complex will be home to the Hawks men’s and women’s track & field program, and men’s and women’s soccer teams, as well as a wide array of other college programming.
The track & field programs participate in both the indoor and outdoor seasons within the Northeast 10 Conference. The Hawks soccer teams play NE10 seasons in the fall and exhibition games in the spring.
Trustee Jim Van Hoof ’85 and Tracey Van Hoof ’87 made the lead gift for the complex in honor of his parents, Carol and James Van Hoof.
“Tracey and I want it to stand as a testament to all the parents who make the enormous sacrifices necessary for athletes to compete at this level,” Jim Van Hoof said. “No student athlete arrives at Saint Anselm without hundreds of hours of carpools, cleats, sideline cheering, and unyielding encouragement. This complex will be a tribute to all of the parents who provide that.”
Saint Anselm President Joseph A. Favazza, Ph.D., thanked the Van Hoof family for their generous lead commitment and also thanked the athletes who have waited for this moment while the college worked its way through the regulatory process with the communities of Bedford, Goffstown, and Manchester.
“The athletes are here, and they are anxious and deserving of the beautiful complex we are creating,” President Favazza said. “The addition of track & field to our varsity sports programs has been talked about for years. It was a strategic decision by the College leadership and Trustees that has yielded an extraordinary number of participants, quickly exceeding our recruitment and enrollment expectations.”
Van Hoof also announced that a substantial portion of their commitment is being made as a challenge gift that when successfully matched will allow for the soccer field to be named for legendary men’s soccer coach Ed Cannon, “a man who positively impacted, not just me, but hundreds of athletes during his long coaching and leadership career at Saint Anselm. Someone whose coaching excellence, dedication to young athletes, humility, and character embody the Benedictine values we all hold dear.”
Article by Paul Pronovost, Saint Anselm College