The locker room is an essential part of any training ground –– it can be a team’s place to hype up or cool down, freshen up or let loose with some music or banter. It’s the players’ home base at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground, so every detail was taken into consideration during its construction: all the way down to a refrigerator full of protein drinks and a phone charger in every locker. Here’s what makes Atlanta United’s so special:
Location
The first team locker room is located in the center of the building, emphasizing its significance as the focal point of the club. It’s cylindrical structure is visible from common areas and just steps away from the team’s gym and medical facilities, and just a short walk from the dining hall. It’s just down the hallway from the academy locker rooms, which are progressively sized and scaled, with additional amenities included for the players moving up through the academy aspiring to the top level. It even has a back entrance to the equipment room, to make sure the players are always decked out with whatever they need to maintain their performance.
Lighting
Like much of the training ground, the designers took care to allow as much natural light as possible in, with 14 elevated windows streaming in light from a 22-foot ceiling. After all, this is where the players work, and research has shown natural lighting helps people be more productive, happier and healthier, while cutting down on energy consumption. While that’s the default, calm and cool isn’t always what the players are looking for, so there is a variety of colored lighting options to adjust the mood and the vibe to make sure the atmosphere is just right for whatever occasion the team may have.
Mood
The moment you walk in the locker room door, you’ll notice the uncommon shape. Unlike many locker rooms, it’s shaped like an oval, without corners, so every player is unified and no one is isolated from the other. Nearly every day players are at the training ground, there will be music playing, whether it be reggaeton, hip hop or anywhere in between. Full surround-sound speakers line the walls to help the players keep the music going and the spirits high.
The Sauna
Every locker room has a shower, but Atlanta United went a step forward. Club ownership cut no corners in helping the athletes perform at a maximum level, so a dry sauna was installed inside the first-team locker room. A sauna is a wooden room that can reach temperatures upwards of 190 degrees, a tradition dating back thousands of years. Not only does it help players relax, the sauna opens the athletes’ pores and flushes out any toxins and impurities through their sweat.
The Barber Chair
Look good, feel good –– and the Atlanta United players are feeling good. Players often have to go straight from training to media appearance or community outreach events. To make them as comfortable as possible, a barber chair was installed in the locker room to make sure they’re always looking their best. Some even have their barber come to the training ground regularly.
Every piece of the $60 million training ground facility has been carefully planned out to put every team who comes through it in the best position to succeed. The locker room is a vital piece in that philosophy to make sure the players are properly prepared and taken care of in order to perform at the highest level possible.
