“It’s a lot easier and a lot more fun in a place that has everything you need,” Collison, Kansas University’s All-American basketball player, said Tuesday after a workout at KU’s new Anderson Family Strength and Conditioning Center. “It’s clean, it doesn’t smell bad. The ventilation is a lot better, so it isn’t as hot. There’s a lot more space.”

Anderson Center, which opened March 24 and was dedicated Saturday, is an $8 million, 42,000-square-foot facility on the northwest corner of Anschutz Pavilion. It dwarfs the 5,000-square-foot Shaffer-Holland Strength Center it replaced.

Shaffer-Holland was considered big when it opened in 1984, but a higher percentage of KU’s 500 or so athletes now lift weights. Logjams in the weight room were common in recent years, and the high demand often left athletes in Olympic sports feeling overlooked.

“Football had it all day,” said sophomore soccer player Stacy Leeper. “We’d get out at 5 to 6:30 at night, and that’s when most people are eating. Our habits would be all messed up. People also have classes at that time of night.”

Tuesday afternoon, athletes from KU’s soccer, football, men’s basketball and men’s and women’s track and field teams were training at the same time.

That couldn’t have happened in the old weight room.

“It was tough,” said freshman soccer player Caroline Smith, who led KU with 12 goals last season. “If you were the only team in there you were probably OK, but if there were other people in there it was tough to get everything in. There wasn’t enough room, and there wasn’t enough equipment. It’s not as crowded now. You can get your workout over and done without having to wait for other people.”

Now that there’s no standing in line, KU’s athletes enjoy sharing their weight room with other teams.

“We used to have interaction, but now it’s comfortable interaction,” Collison said.

Smith thought it might even be beneficial.

“It’s kind of fun to work out with other athletes,” she said. “You get a taste of what they’re doing. It’s a good environment. Everybody’s working hard, and you feed off that.”

All the athletes working on a sunny Tuesday at Anderson Center were in the 15,000-square-foot weight room on the main floor. Expect the 7,500-square-foot cardiovascular area on the second floor to be equally popular when the weather changes. The facility also features a training area that has stairs, stadium-grade stairs and a 28-degree ramp.

“The big thing here is that the weather is very unpredictable,” said Monique Peters, who was the Big 12 Conference indoor long-jump champion last year. “When you have a facility where you can do a workout regardless of how it is outside, it makes it all much better.”

Head strength and conditioning coach Chris Dawson said the new facility — which features about $560,000 worth of new equipment — should raise expectations for the Jayhawks.

“This facility was built so that we would have a better opportunity to go and win Big 12 championships and compete nationally in every sport,” he said. “That’s exactly how I expect them to train.”

Anderson Center made an impression on new Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, who toured the facility on his second day on the job.

“I haven’t seen them all,” he said, “but I haven’t seen any that would rival this.”