Brooks Field at Achilles-Messa Center

Formerly the home of the Union College men's and women's ice hockey teams for 50 years, Brooks Field at Achilles-Messa Center was opened in January 2026 as a new indoor space for Union athletics teams and the campus community.

The 27,000-square-foot space provides Union with an on-campus indoor turf facility for the first time, allowing for Union's varsity teams to practice indoors during the winter. Combined with the existing Memorial Fieldhouse, the facility will allow coaches more flexibility in scheduling practice times, helping to alleviate the need for off-campus practices during the winter and limiting the need for early-morning or late-night sessions. The new turf also will create an additional space for Union's club sports and recreational offerings.

Also as part of the renovation, the upper levels of Achilles Center were converted into additional spots for student-athletes to train, including dedicated batting and pitching areas for the baseball and softball teams.

In addition to the new turf, Achilles Center also houses the Travis J. Clark '00 Strength Training Facility, a state-of-the-art workout area exclusively for the use of Union student-athletes, as well as the College's primary sports medicine facility. As part of the renovation, several Union teams and coaches moved their locker rooms and offices into the new space, and a new lounge area was created for student-athletes to complement the Garnet Room in the lower level of the building.

Originally opened in 1975 as Achilles Rink and named in honor of original benefactor Rev. H. Laurence Achilles, Sr., the rink was renovated in 2003 and renamed Messa Rink at Achilles Center in honor of Frank L. Messa '73, whose generosity made the renovation possible. The hockey teams moved to the brand-new M&T Bank Center across Erie Boulevard in 2025-26, opening up Achilles for reconfiguration thanks to a $1 million gift from Andy '78, P'13 and Sana Brooks P'13.