In the new lockers, the chair and its surrounding components have sliding doors and the ability to be lifted, revealing tons of places to put stuff.
“The apparel is hidden, which gives everything a cleaner look,” co-equipment manager Drew Curls explained. “There’s also more storage underneath because it’s a deeper locker. It can hold more.”
Storage space and easy access to personal items are just a couple of several elements implemented with players in mind. Drying gear was a concern that the equipment team brought to Longhorn Lockers. Before, a cluttered and crowded ventilation system was set up outside in a hallway. All of the players’ gear couldn’t even fit in this area. Now, there’s a new way, which ensures every item of each player, from shoulders pads to helmets to cleats, is dried within two hours.
“The dryers within each locker make sure the players aren’t going out to practice with wet or damp gear,” said co-equipment manager Justin Brooks. “Everything is about player comfort.”
Outside of the individual lockers themselves, the space features a new sound system, a new, bigger sauna (that changes colors!), a new steam room, more private showers, more toilets and one cohesive sitting area with sofa chairs.
All in all, the new locker room shows itself as a kind of sanctuary rather than a mere pit stop. And when players don’t mind staying a while, they might just spend more time together in an environment very different than a meeting room or practice field. For a culture all about brotherhood, that might just be as valuable as the many state-of-the-art amenities.
The locker room is one of the most significant but far from the only element of OrthoVirginia Training Center that has undergone a makeover in the offseason.
“We’ve made a lot of improvements to really everything here,” general manager Adam Peters said in his pre-training camp press conference. “We have new meeting rooms, we have a new nutrition center…new bubble. It just goes on and on in terms of the things that we’ve been able to do, tons of new recovery stuff for our players. So, we’re really proud of all that and really thankful to [Managing Partner] Josh [Harris] and [Team President] Mark Clouse and his crew for making this all happen.”
Stay tuned during training camp as Commanders.com dives deeper into these other upgrades.