Pioneer Athletics Fieldhouse

The Pioneer Athletics Fieldhouse is the heartbeat of William Paterson’s intercollegiate athletics program, a space designed to provide the institution’s student-athletes with the resources they need to compete and succeed at the highest level.

The project, officially completed during the Fall 2025 semester, includes a 4,000-square-foot addition to house brand-new spaces for athletic training as well as strength and conditioning activities. It also features new locker rooms for the field hockey, softball and women’s soccer teams, and a renovation of the existing football and baseball locker rooms. Locker room work included updates to the shower and restroom facilities, and new wood lockers for each individual student-athlete.

Overlooking Wightman Stadium, the Stephen Adzima ’75 Strength and Conditioning Center provides a space for student-athletes to work with WP’s Head Strength and Conditioning Coach to develop, bond and grow, both individually and as a team. Equipment in the facility includes:

Perform Better Trap Bars
Perform Better Adjustable Benches
Perform Better Mach 3 Half Racks
Perform Better Mach 3 Power Racks
Landmine Rack Attachments
Sets of 45-Pound Chains
Single Leg Squat Rollers
Elitefts Reverse Hyper Machines
Perform Better Dip Bar Attachments
EliteFTS Safety Squat Bars
Perform Better Olympic Training Barbells
Perform Better Dumbbells (5-125 Pounds)
Airex Pads
TRX Complete Suspension Training System Straps
Pit Shark Belt Squat
63-inch Plyo Boxes
Just Jump Vertical Jump Mat
Perform Better Foam Rollers
Mini Hurdles
Perform Better Elite Med Balls (0-20 pounds)
Perform Better First Place Med Balls (0-30 pounds)
Dashr Timing Gate Systems
340 Total Perform Better Elite Rubber Encased Plates (2.5-45 pounds)
Quarter-Inch, Half-Inch and One-Inch Bands
Heavy Bands
EliteFTS Weight Belts
Rope Cable Attachments
Single Arm Row Cable Attachment
Straight Bar Cable Attachments

Adzima, who made a $250,000 donation to establish an endowed fund for ongoing support of the Fieldhouse, played on William Paterson’s first football team, was a three-time all-conference selection, and in 1974 was named an all-American defensive end. He was inducted into the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991. Adzima is the president and owner of Universal Electric Motor Service in Hackensack, served on the William Paterson University Board of Trustees (20050-14), and has been a supporter of the University and Athletics for more than four decades.

The new Athletic Training Room serves all 300 of the student-athletes who participate in WP’s 13 NCAA intercollegiate sports. In its new location adjacent to the outdoor fields complex, the Athletic Training Room is a convenient and easily-accessible facility for student-athletes to receive treatment and conduct rehabilitation with certified members of the WP Athletic Training staff.

In addition, in recognition of a $200,000 gift from the Estate of Alan J. Anderson ’81, William Paterson named the Alan J. Anderson ’81 Baseball Locker Room in his honor. The late Anderson served as co-captain of the William Paterson baseball team (1979-81), was a member of the New Jersey All-Star Team his junior and senior years, and was named to the All-Conference, All-State and Academic All-America Teams his senior year. His career batting average of .344, and his career 53 stolen bases and 37 walks put him in the Pioneers’ top ten statistical records. In 1990, he was inducted into the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Anderson was the owner of Mahwah Honda and Acura of Ramsey; Mahwah Honda earned 11 Council of Excellence Awards, while Acura of Ramsey was the longest-running recipient of the prestigious “Jersey Cup” awarded by Acura to the highest-ranking dealer for customer satisfaction. He supported numerous local charities and organizations, and following his death in 2019, the Alan J. Anderson Foundation was established in his name to honor his legacy.

Those wishing to support the Pioneering Champions Athletics Fieldhouse project, including the purchase of a locker, may visit https://www.wpunj.edu/giving/special-giving-opportunities/pioneering-champions/.