Vanguard dedicates Freed Center for Leadership and Service

Vanguard University has celebrated several recent milestones, and the dedication of the Freed Center for Leadership and Service became the latest for the Costa Mesa-based college.

The three-story, 61,000-square-foot building will host games for a handful of athletic programs and be home to the school’s kinesiology department.

The facility has been named after the Freed family, which provided the college with a $10-million gift in March 2022. A total of $16 million was raised for the center’s construction.

Diana Avans, a professor of kinesiology, peers into a “Bod Pod,� which measures body fat, at Vanguard’s new Freed Center for Leadership and Service.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“As a Christian family who believes in the mission of Vanguard University, we were proud to be able to gift the funds needed to help build this state-of-the-art facility,� Evelyn Freed, a local philanthropist, said in a statement. “The Freed Center will be a refuge for students — a space at the heart of the campus where they can gather, learn and compete.

“It’s just one of many ways the century-old learning institution is growing to meet changing times, while also still fostering intellectual development, moral maturity and spiritual vitality of its students for the public good.�

During its construction, Vanguard looked elsewhere to host athletic events, often playing at nearby Orange Coast College. It has now been open for three women’s volleyball matches, the Lions earning their first win in their new 1,910-seat gym on Thursday against Biola in a Pacific West Conference contest.

Athletic Director Jeff Bussell inside the Freed Center for Leadership and Service facility and sports gym at Vanguard University on Friday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

The new gym will provide a boost to student life. Athletic Director Jeff Bussell said about half of those enrolled at the college live on campus.

Vanguard will host basketball, volleyball, wrestling and stunt cheerleading events in the Freed Center. The Lions made the leap to the NCAA Division II level of competition in 2023, and the school remains in a provisional period with regard to that move.

Russ Davis, the longtime women’s basketball coach of the Lions and a member of both the NAIA and Vanguard University Hall of Fame, is looking forward to his team competing in its new home.

Darin Voigt, the head athletic trainer at Vanguard University, shows a pool therapy room at the Freed Center for Leadership and Service.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“That’s going to be fantastic,� said Davis, who guided the Lions to an NAIA national title in 2008. “[Orange Coast College], our neighbors over there, were generous enough to let us play some games over there and practice, too, but we’re really, really looking forward to this. … Donor-led. A little emotional, to be honest with you.�

Bussell said recruits have been excited about the new facilities, especially the weight room. It is outfitted with new bench presses, free weights, jumping stools, medicine balls and squat racks.

The weight room will be available to the student-athletes and kinesiology department activities. Garage doors also lead out to a patio that allows for additional workouts to take place outdoors.

Diana Avans, a professor of kinesiology, and Athletic Director Jeff Bussell give a tour of the weight room in the Freed Center for Leadership and Service at Vanguard University on Friday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

A highlighting feature of a training room includes two water therapy tubs — providing a choice to soak in either hot or cold temperatures.

New locker rooms include spaces for moderately sized and large rosters, the latter being equipped with a projector to review video.

The kinesiology department has benefited from a human performance lab on the second floor and a motion analysis lab on the third floor, which includes equipment for balance and strength assessments.

The Vanguard Lions logo reveals itself from a low angle on the seats at the Freed Center for Leadership and Service.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Also among the notable equipment is an egg-shaped machine called a “Bod Pod� that focuses on body composition, measuring one’s body fat based on air displacement.

“People that are interested in [human performance] may go on to be fitness and sport performance coaches,� said Diana Avans, the head of the kinesiology department.

“We have a lot of students that want to be [physical therapists, occupational therapists], chiropractors, athletic trainers, … all kinds of the medical allied health fields, and so that’s the other half,� Avans said.�… We have 220 majors or so. I would say 120 or so want to do some kind of allied health career, and then about the other 100 want to do something in fitness, sport performance [and] training.�

The court and seats of the new Freed Center for Leadership and Service at Vanguard University on Friday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Avan added that it is common for students in the major to interface with other students and student-athletes. Kinesiology students may run stress tests and fitness testing on volunteers.

“The Freed Center for Leadership and Service combines the kinetic with the intellectual as it centralizes Lions athletics and the kinesiology program,� Vanguard University president Michael Beals said. “Our student-athletes now have dedicated spaces for exercise, physiotherapy and competition. Our kinesiology majors have two leading-edge labs to hone their skills as they prepare to be healers in one of the nation’s fastest-growing professions.�

The entrance to the Freed Center for Leadership and Service at Vanguard University on Friday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)