Film room added to Spartan Arena
The Castleton Blue Line Club, the sports booster club for Castleton men’s and women’s hockey, was able to raise a significant amount of money this past season in memorial donations for Phil Varney.
Varney, who passed away last November, was instrumental in building Spartan Arena before Castleton University bought it. He and his wife, Janet, have been strong supporters of Castleton hockey.
With that money, Men’s Hockey Head Coach Bill Silengo worked with the Blue Line Club in order to transform one of the spaces in Spartan Arena to a state-of-the-art video room.
The room is a revised space for both hockey teams to review game film. The former Blue Line Club Room was chosen to become the video room.
President of the Blue Line Club Bill Wiles, who is now a part-time English Professor here at Castleton, stated that, “No other Division 3 school has something like this. It’s a great recruiting tool.”
The video room includes green chairs designed with the Spartan logo, whiteboards for diagramming plays, and a brand new large monitor that can be used as a telestrator. Most importantly, it’s a place where the hockey team can all gather together as a team besides the locker room.
“The key feature is that everyone can fit in their at once,” explained Wiles. Silengo stated that the room will mainly be used for the breakdown and presentation of game film to the team.
In addition to that, with the help from a significant donation from Cutting Edge, a recreational women’s hockey league, the Blue Line Club was also able to renovate the coaches offices overlooking the ice.
Silengo expressed his utmost gratitude for the Blue Line Club. “We are thankful for the Blue Line Club and Phil and Janet Varney’s generous donation that allows us to have a state of the art video room. What the Blue Line Club members do for our team is invaluable and we cannot thank them enough.”
As the 2017-18 season begins for both teams, the Blue Line video room will be very helpful towards their adjustments and improvements.