Fencing

Vladimir Nazlymov and his Ohio State fencing squad are in their fifth year in the state-of-the-art Steelwood Athletic Training facility, home to Buckeye fencing, wrestling and gymnastics.

The complex is complete with its own administrative offices, training room, locker rooms and three private gyms for all three teams.

Steelwood boasts spacious and accommodating training rooms for all three sports as both the wrestling and fencing quarters each account for approximately 8,800-square feet, while the gymnastics training area features 14,000-square feet of practice area.

The fencing room is one of the largest in the country with 14 electronic practice strips. The spacious wrestling room accommodates 6,500-square feet of wrestling mat area, which provides ample space for an entire team to train together.

The fencing room allows Buckeye fencers to train more effective and efficiently to help them reach their ultimate goal of winning another NCAA championship.

"We have a fabulous new facility," Nazlymov said. "I think it is the best fencing facility in the country. With 14 practice strips we can use our time more efficiently and get more repetitions for our athletes. It also is very convenient to have our offices the same place we practice."

Buckeye home meets take place in Ohio State's French Field House, which is located on the west side of St. John Arena. This year the Buckeyes play host to the Ohio State Duals Feb. 10.

"We want to continue to improve and this new training facility will help us do just that," Nazlymov said.

Gymnastics

With the support of the university administration, the Buckeyes have a new facility that will help in the training of some of the country's best gymnasts. The new Steelwood Athletic Training Facility has approximately 15,000 square feet of workout area.

Along with the new facility, the squad has purchased new equipment that meets the latest FIG specifications. For every event OSU gymnasts have the ability to train into in-ground resipits, in-ground loose foam pits or a competition-landing surface.

There is not a lot of waiting around in the Buckeye gym, as they have at least two, three and sometimes even four sets of competition equipment. Additionally, there is an extensive pommel horse drills area with a number of learning aids and a ring strength area with five sets of rings.

Every piece of equipment except pommel horse has a variety of landing surfaces for the gymnasts' safety while training. This variety of surfaces also helps alleviate some of the wear and tear on gymnasts' bodies that leads to overuse and chronic injuries while training. As an example, our AAI/Palmer spring floor is set up to allow a gymnast to tumble onto the floor itself, onto a resipit or even into loose foam. These different landing surfaces allow a gymnast to train at an extremely high level at all times very safely.

Also, the gym has an in-ground tumbletrak that goes into loose foam, an Olympic quality trampoline that also goes into loose foam and a 60-foot rod floor that goes onto an in-ground resipit or into loose foam. Unique to the Buckeyes' gym unique are the four vaulting stations in the facility. Two of the vaulting strips go into loose foam, one goes onto a resipit and still another is a competitive landing surface.

The Buckeye gymnastics program is proud of its new gym, a facility that is considered one of, if not the best, gymnastics training facilities in the country.

Wrestling

As one of four Buckeye programs to call the Steelwood Athletic Training Facility home, "Steelwood" is a state-of-the-art center. Steelwood boasts spacious and accommodating training rooms for all four sports - men's and women's gymnastics, fencing and wrestling. Both the wrestling and fencing quarters each account for approximately 8,800-square feet, while the gymnastics training area features 14,000-square feet of practice area.

The spacious wrestling room accommodates 6,500-square feet of wrestling mat area, which provides ample space for an entire team to train together, while also affording the necessary area to run sprints and conduct other agility exercises.

The room is designed to train the total athlete as the venue is equipped with 26 hammer strength machines and two full sets of dumb bells, ranging from 20 to 100-pounds to be utilized for weight and strength training. The area also has been outfitted with 15 cardiovascular apparatuses consisting of treadmills, reel runners, stationary bikes and elliptical machines for conditioning purposes.

As impressive as all of the features are, the exhibition of Ohio State's storied wrestling tradition within the room proves to be the venue's most inspiring characteristic. Present on all four walls of the facility are displays of past Buckeye team and individual accomplishments, including a picture of each wrestling squad in the modern history of the program. Posted on the south wall are framed photographs of every Ohio State All-American and All-Big Ten honoree, while 12 Block "O" boards displayed on the west and north faces of the room read the names of every former Buckeye captain, Big Ten champion and national champion.

The most eye-catching feature of the room also honors the Buckeye national champions with life-size likenesses of each wrestler adorning the northeast portion of the facility. The replicas stand approximately 6 feet in stature and display each wrestler in an action or stance shot during each of their championship seasons.

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