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Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility

530 Stadium Road
Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility
Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility

Everything about Virginia Tech’s Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility, from its color to its design features to its architectural touches, says “Hokie.”

The facility is 210 feet wide and 400 feet long with a top-of-the-line synthetic turf.

The facility was renamed the Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility on Oct. 6, 2018 at a special halftime ceremony during Virginia Tech's game against Notre Dame.

The height from the playing surface to the bottom of the steel ceiling trusses is more than 86 feet at its apex, allowing plenty of room for punting and kicking. Its 8-foot padded walls, wide sidelines, full scoreboard, and 40-second clocks on each end allow the football program to hold a full-contact scrimmage.

In addition, the facility features garage-type doors, which open quickly and allow the players to move from the outdoor practice field into the indoor facility in inclement weather.

The facility also features a video platform that runs the length of the field. Three doors at separate locations lead out to observation decks to allow the video staff to film the outdoor portions of practice. Football coach Frank Beamer also has his own observation deck in the facility, with a door that leads to a deck outside for the observation of the outdoor portion of a practice.

The building has maroon trim and Hokie Stone on the bases of each support column. The archway entrance resembles that at Lane Stadium. Plus, the university’s core values – brotherhood, honor, leadership, sacrifice, service, loyalty, duty and Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) – are etched along the bases of the columns. Architects borrowed this feature from the Pylons above War Memorial Chapel.

The Athletics Department envisions men’s and women’s soccer, softball, baseball, and lacrosse all using the building for training and conditioning purposes, particularly during inclement weather in late winter and early spring.

Building History

Former Athletic Director Jim Weaver identified a new practice facility as a need not long after being hired in the fall of 1997. In 1998, he received permission to build the facility from then-president Paul Torgersen, but other facilities needs took precedence at the time, putting the project temporarily on hold.

Over the next decade, the athletics department built the south end zone structure at Lane Stadium and then a new structure on the west side of the stadium. The department also constructed a basketball practice facility, a new football locker room, a new Olympic sports weight room, and it embarked on several other smaller projects.

Movement on the practice facility project began again in earnest in 2012, but finding a site proved problematic as the university and the athletics department worked out issues related to finding a location.

In September 2014, a building and grounds committee of the Board of Visitors approved the site with all sides coming to an agreement that the best place for the facility was on part of the existing football practice fields – specifically, the east practice field adjacent to the football locker room.

Originally Built:
2015
Map Grid:
N-8
Abbreviation / Number:
IATF / 186A
Coordinates:
37.222183, -80.417444