Exploring MIT’s sports facilities by Emiko P. '25
there's so much to see!
It’s a beautiful spring day here at MIT – the sun is peeking through the clouds, I was woken up this morning by birds, and we’ve now mostly exited heaviest-coat-in-the-closet weather (and are now entering bring-your-rain-jacket-everywhere weather).
What better way to enjoy this good weather than by going on a little adventure? I’ve been wanting to do a blog showcasing MIT’s many athletics facilities for a while now, so I think this is the perfect time to do it!
As you may have noticed, I’ve been kind of into the whole tour thing lately. From touring MIT frats and sororities to touring our new on-campus grocery store, it’s been fun to show off a little piece of what makes MIT so unique and special. I’d like to think that there’s something new to be learned for everyone, especially during this tour today – whether you’re a prospective or incoming student-athlete, someone who walks by these facilities on the way to class every day, or someone wondering what do you mean MIT has sports??
Of course, no tour is fun without some tour guides, so I brought along another person with me: Ashley E. ‘25, an attacking midfielder on the soccer team.
The Z Center
Ashley and I met up at the Z Center, which houses the Varsity Weight Room, the varsity locker rooms, the gym, and more that we’ll check out later in this tour!
Roberts Field
A short walk away from the Z Center is our first destination: Roberts Field. This turf field is very near and dear to my heart, as I have played dozens of games here and had hundreds of practices.
A good amount of varsity teams call Roberts home. In the fall, women and men’s soccer and football play their home games and practice here. These three teams rotate playing on Roberts and playing on the grass fields in the back (Fields A/B/C/D/E), which I’ll show you later. In the spring, men’s lacrosse claims Roberts Field, while the track team trains and hosts meets on the surrounding track.
Fran O’Brien Field
Next, we go to the baseball field right past Roberts.
Briggs Field
Right next door to the baseball field is the softball field!
Field A/B/C/D/E
There are five grass fields laying just beyond Roberts Field and neighboring both the baseball and softball fields. These are supplementary fields, especially in the fall when three different teams are taking turns practicing on the turf field. The varsity cross country teams also run around these fields multiple times a practice.
It’s also important that I mention that a lot of these facilities and fields are open to the MIT public as a whole, not just varsity athletes. The women’s soccer team often plays on Field D, and the ultimate frisbee club team plays next to us on Field C pretty frequently.01 sorry for kicking so many balls over the goal and into your practice lol There are also PE classes that use these fields all the time.
To be honest, these fields do not have the best conditions. It’s pretty bumpy and can be frustrating when you’re trying to fine-tune and practice your technical control with a soccer ball – one wrong bounce and the ball is flying into your shin instead of your waiting foot. On the other hand, these less-than-ideal conditions have forced us to be better, because if you can’t adjust to Field D, you literally won’t be able to play. In that way, the frequent practice on Field D has definitely built character for the women’s soccer team. Whenever we know we’re playing a team and they have a grass field, we make sure to train on Field D so we’re prepared for any condition that can be thrown at us.
At the end of the day: I’m super grateful that MIT has turf and grass fields available for us to use.
Finding a new tour guide
Ashley has to part ways with us because she’s running a startup and needs to go talk to an investor, so I begin my hunt search for a new tour guide. And I find… Lauren D. ’25, a center defender for the soccer team! Lauren actually gave her first tour today as an official MIT tour guide, so she should be good at this. I have high hopes.
found her!!
Jack Barry Field
Jack Barry is home to field hockey in the fall and women’s lacrosse in the spring. My main association with Barry is that there is usually music bumping here every time I walk past it from 5-7 pm.02 no classes are scheduled during this time period, so this is when most varsity practices are
The duPont Tennis Courts and J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble
Our final outdoor athletics facility we will be visiting is the tennis courts and the tennis bubble. The tennis bubble is used for the tennis teams during chilly/rainy/snowy conditions. Both of these facilities are also open to any MIT student, and on sunny days, the tennis courts are usually filled to the brim.
Johnson Ice Arena
This was recently taken down because it’s spring, but in winter, this room turns into a hockey rink, where the club hockey teams play and where students are open to skate.
Another tour guide?!
On our way to the next stop in our tour, Lauren and I run into Eva O. ’25, my roommate and a forward on the field hockey team, who is in the lobby of the Z Center. She joins our tour with great glee!
kidnapping Eva
Zesiger Center Pool
Eva, Lauren, and I visit the swimming pool first. The women’s swimming and diving team recently won the D3 national championship, so we had to check out where all the magic happened.
Rockwell Cage
Our very last stop of the tour is Rockwell Cage! Rockwell is home to the men and women’s volleyball teams and the men and women’s basketball teams. There are two practice courts, as well as three badminton courts and five practice basketball hoops.
And that concludes our tour! We didn’t get to see everything, like the sailing pavilion, the crew team’s boat house, the squash courts, the rifle area, and more, but I hope you guys got an idea of what the athletics facilities have to offer. These facilities are more or less available to anyone at MIT, so I hope you all get to explore them the next time there’s a sunny day :)
As always, roll tech!
roll tech!
- sorry for kicking so many balls over the goal and into your practice lol back to text ↑
- no classes are scheduled during this time period, so this is when most varsity practices are back to text ↑