Facilities

The Nicholas Athletic Center was completed in 2000 and represents the most complete athletic facility of any private school in the Greater Boston area. The state-of-the-art complex includes an indoor rowing tank, seating for 450 spectators, and an 11,000-square-foot fitness center. A 5,000-square-foot multi-activity court offers volleyball, aerobics, and recreational basketball. The complex also includes a 3,700-square-foot sports medicine area, administrative offices, and locker rooms. In addition, to this main indoor facility, BB&N has four playing fields and its own boathouse on the Charles River.

Athletic Fields and Locations

• Edward Field @ Franke and Shady Hill Field — Gerry’s Landing, Upper School Campus
• Nichols Field — Gerry’s Landing, Upper School Campus
• Smith Field — Western Avenue, Cambridge
• Arsenal Tennis Courts in the Arsenal Park. Located in the area behind the parking lot, to the right of the Arsenal Mall. The Mall is at 485 Arsenal Street in Watertown.
• Buckingham Field — Fresh Pond Parkway
• BB&N Boathouse — Directly across from the Upper School Campus. Varsity Races are held between Weeks Footbridge and Magazine Beach - Riverside Boat Club. Sub-varsity races are held up river between Northeastern Boathouse and the Eliot Bridge.
• Fresh Pond Reservoir — Cross Country races are held along the foot path. Entrance is on Fresh Pond Parkway, the first left just beyond Huron Avenue traveling outbound toward Arlington.
• Charlestown Navy Yard — The sailing team sails at the Courageous Sailing Center.
• Nashoba Valley Ski Area — The Alpine Ski team competes at this mountain.

When BB&N students stepped onto the new field behind the Upper School this year, they had more in common with their professional and collegiate sports heroes than they may have realize. The newly minted pitch boasts a “FieldTurf” surface, the same artificial grass used by 20 of the NFL’s 30 teams, three Major League Baseball teams, and a bevy of NCAA football and baseball programs.

FieldTurf is comprised of silica sand and cryogenic rubber, both set down in a layering process so as to imitate natural grass. The result is an exceptionally level and smooth surface. The sand base creates excellent drainage and if some spectators discern a vague puff of black spraying up from an athlete’s foot during play, that’s only the tiny FieldTurf pellets imitating dirt and ensuring ample give for the athletes.

Although primarily slated to accommodate soccer and lacrosse games, the field will also serve as practice space for Middle and Upper School sports, and some football. The durable nature of the FieldTurf should alleviate some of the inconveniences BB&N athletics has suffered in the past such as limited field space, and the wear that continuous use has on a grass field.

The new field will be a tremendous addition to the School in regards to competing with rival athletic programs. Because of BB&N’s urban locale, field space is at a premium, a problem which has been overcome in the past through creative scheduling, careful planning, and bussing to off-site locations.

Amongst the other schools in the Independent School League, only Thayer can lay claim to another FieldTurf field.

Funding for the field was made possible through a generous donor as well as a partnership with Lesley University. In exchange for their part in the financing, Lesley will be allowed use of the field in the evenings, a novelty made possible by the new light posts which will flank the FieldTurf surface.