With the return of WhitCity and a rise of student engagement with school sports after COVID, the construction of a new clubhouse in Borleske Stadium offers students and student athletes alike a new opportunity for school spirit. Under construction since the beginning of 2023, the clubhouse includes additional space for the baseball team such as training rooms and much-needed meeting space.
Players like junior Wyatt Adams view the clubhouse as holding a major positive impact on both individual players and the team as a whole.
“It will provide a facility where players can get easier and quicker access to trainers and medical treatment during events, and function as a sort of home base in the time between, before and after events,” Adams said.
For Adams, the clubhouse is a state-of-the-art area for the baseball team, as well as a source of efficiency for Borleske Stadium.
According to Adams, the stadium was often substituted with training rooms in Sherwood Center. Borleske’s location off-campus made it difficult to efficiently practice and train for the baseball season. Now, however, the additional off-campus clubhouse will allow teammates to practice and organize activities in one area as well as allocate on-campus spaces for their original purposes.
“With the new clubhouse, we will be able to use the indoor facility to a better degree for what it was meant for and do everything that we had adapted to the indoor facility to a better degree in the clubhouse,” Adams said.
Senior Annalie Reed is the baseball team’s manager. She agreed with Adams.
“The indoor facility is a good space, but it’s a bit cramped at times with both lockers and batting cages in there. The Walla Walla High School football team also currently uses Whitman’s indoor facility on football gamedays,” Reed said.
Junior Joaquin Hines, another Whitman baseball player, said the facility’s design addressed student and player concerns for meeting areas.
“There is more than enough room for all the things we could dream of,” Hines said.
Like the school’s indoor facilities, Borleske Stadium is also shared with the city of Walla Walla. Used and managed by both Whitman College and the city, the stadium serves the school and the greater community. As such, the addition of the clubhouse offers a connection between current students, the Walla Walla area and the generous alumni who donated to its creation.
“The clubhouse is quite valuable for the program, and this was extremely generous of the donors. I know the guys are excited about it and I am too. It’s really special, especially for a small school like Whitman, to have a clubhouse like this,” Reed said.
The efficiency offered by the clubhouse will benefit the college, the town and community members.
Adams, Reed and Hines said contributions made to the clubhouse amended issues the baseball team experiences when switching between indoor areas and the stadium. The distance from campus, inefficiency of switching between indoor and outdoor facilities and a lack of off-campus meeting locations means the clubhouse’s completion will create a designated space for student athletes in the community.
“The proposed team spaces within the clubhouse will help increase practice and training options for players and save the student-athletes valuable time going between facilities. They’ll have more at their disposal right next to the field. Additionally, this clubhouse can help the team’s recruiting efforts,” Reed said.
Hines said that the clubhouse will be the perfect addition to a stadium he is proud to come back to each season.
“Borleske is our home. It is a wonderful stadium that looks amazing when it’s time to play. The clubhouse will just bring more attention to how great of a homefield Borleske is to play at,” Hines said.
For Hines and others involved in Whitman athletics, investments like the clubhouse recognize the work of Whitman’s athletes and leave a legacy for the school they call home.
