The track at Ellis Oval underwent a much-needed resurfacing in the summer of 2004, and the field hockey team christened the state-of-the-art turf surface at Bello Field during the 2004 season.
But while these and other Tufts athletics teams saw their facilities get a facelift in recent years, a few are still waiting for a place to call home.
Unlike virtually all of their NESCAC competitors, the ice hockey and men's and women's squash teams lack an on-campus home. Without a practice or game venue within walking distance, these programs face a variety of logistical and competitive problems.
"Obviously, it's far from ideal," athletic director Bill Gehling said. "Having to travel off-campus to practice and to play is a burden that I would prefer none of our athletes have to experience."
The squash teams practice and play "home" matches at the Harvard courts in Cambridge and the Belmont Hill School in Belmont. In addition to having to travel at least 10 minutes to practice every day, the lack of on-campus facilities forces the teams to play the majority of their dual matches on the road.
The men's team hosts only four of the 20 matches on its 2005-2006 schedule (two at Harvard, one at Belmont Hill, and one at MIT) and the women's team hosts only two of its 19 (both at Belmont Hill).
Tufts does have squash courts on campus, but the collegiate squash circuit later switched from American-sized courts to larger international-sized courts. Due to the size and building structure of the current squash facility, there is no financially feasible way to expand the courts to the international regulation.
"We're in the process of revisiting master planning for our indoor facilities," Gehling said. "It is our intention and desire to figure out how to get squash courts into that plan. There were squash courts that never got done in a master plan from 15 years ago. That's something I hope we can accommodate."
Members of the squash teams identify recruiting as the biggest difficulty their teams face in fielding a strong team.
"We're the only NESCAC school that doesn't have courts [on campus]," said No. 1 player sophomore Rebecca Rice. "It's definitely a turnoff for recruits because we have to drive a long distance to courts to practice and have home matches."
Men's squash senior
tri-captain Spencer Maxwell agreed.
"I would say [recruiting] is the team's biggest disadvantage," Maxwell said. "When recruits visit campus they see that we don't have courts, so anyone who is serious about playing squash probably isn't going to come to Tufts."
Gehling's best answer to the recruiting issue is that, despite not having an on-campus home, Tufts has many features that make it unique from other NESCAC schools, such as its size and proximity to Boston.
"I can't imagine that it's not a recruiting roadblock," Gehling said. "[But] people tend to come to colleges like Tufts for a lot of reasons, and participation in a sport is always a key decision for serious athletes. It's a roadblock, but it's not a non-starter."
The hockey team's situation has actually improved in recent years. Although it is the only NESCAC school without an on-campus home, it now holds all of its practices and games at the nearby Malden Forum. As recently as the 2000-01 season, the team was using a variety of local facilities for home games, including Harvard, MIT, and Boston College.
"In ice hockey's case, it's actually better than it used to be," Gehling said. "In the past, the team had to use a number of local rinks, but in the last few years we've been able to establish a relationship with one rink."
While Gehling said that renovating the squash courts is in the school's long-term plans, he made it clear that building an on-campus hockey rink is not much of a possibility.
"Ice hockey would be a much bigger, much more expensive facility," Gehling said. "Given the kind of space at Tufts, it's difficult to find where that would happen."
For the hockey team, the lack of a home rink causes the same recruiting disadvantages cited by squash players.
"Not having a rink affects the type of players we can bring in here," sophomore forward Ross Gimbel said. "When they [recruits] see other facilities, which are generally really nice, they want to go there because they're obviously better."
Aside from recruiting problems, the hockey team must deal with very small home crowds, as few fans are willing or able to travel to Malden to root on Tufts.
"I always talk to my friends who are interested in coming to see us play, but when we tell them that the rink is 15 minutes away they kind of just push the idea aside," sophomore Greg O'Connell said.
Gehling highlighted the team's current relationship with the Malden Forum and the potential establishment of a relationship with other local rinks in the area as the best long-term solutions for the hockey team.
With no feasible short-term solution, all Gehling can do is be happy with how these teams perform amid such adversity.
"In sports like squash and hockey, the more typical scenario is to have a facility on campus," Gehling said. "I think [all three teams] do very well, given those challenges."
The squash and ice hockey teams are not the only teams at Tufts that are forced to travel for practices and "home" events. The cross country teams' home meets are nearly 45 minutes away in Grafton, and the sailing teams' boathouses are located on the Charles River. The crew teams recently acquired a new boathouse on the Malden River, which is wrapping up construction and should be ready for use in mid-March.
