It can be said that the College Park Center was built around its new Sports Medicine Center – literally.

The Sports Medicine Center will be the new location for all student athletes to be treated for minor injuries and to go through rehab therapy. One feature of the center is the hydrotherapy room, which includes a HydroWorx pool and a PolarPlunge and ThermalPlunge pool for cold and hot physical therapy. The pools were so large that they were the first amenities installed in the new center before the floor for the room was placed, athletics director Pete Carlon said.

Men’s basketball played its last game on the Texas Hall stage Jan. 21. At a time when UTA’s indoor athletics went from a stage to an actual court, Carlon said, the fact the arena was built around the pools will show that UTA seriously takes care of its athletes.

“We always believed that we’ve given the very best in healthcare to our student athletes, but I think this just takes it up another step as far as what we’re able to provide,” Carlon said.

Carlon compared the hydrotherapy room to other professional sports venues.

“The focal point of that facility is the hydrotherapy area. That’s a special feature that you see in a lot of the professional sports healthcare facilities,” he said. “We went and looked at the Dallas Mavericks facility at the American Airlines Center, and they have those there. I’m biased obviously, but I think we have as nice of a setup as what the Mavericks have, and they only have one practice court. We have two.”

The HydroWorx pool has a built-in treadmill for athletes to continue exercising with an injury but with a lower impact method. David Skaggs, HKS vice president who helped design the College Park Center, said a camera inside the pool allows trainers to watch the athletes’ work out and monitor their progress.

“It’s almost like reviewing game tape,” Skagg said. “They can go back and see how the player is moving in the rehab pool and better tailor their rehab program.”

The Sports Medicine Center also has a rehabilitation room and physical therapy room with ultrasound and muscle stimulation equipment. Carlon said the rehabilitation room is named for Ernest Wilemon, city council member Kathryn Wilemon’s husband.

LaMarcus Reed saw the Sports Medicine Center for the first time yesterday and said it is nothing like what the team had in Texas Hall.

“If we got injured, we’d have to get in our car and drive to the stadium to get to the training room,” he said. “We had one in Texas Hall, but it was really small and there wasn’t a lot you could put in it. Now, everything is here and you can just walk right to the training room.”

Carlon was the head athletic trainer when he came to UTA 31 years ago, and he has a background in sports medicine. Because of this, he said he can’t pick just one feature he likes best about the new center because it was all designed well.

“With my background, that’s a special component to that facility that I’m really proud of,” Carlon said.