Spurs Sports & Entertainment unveiled the official name of its human performance campus during a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday.
The Rock at La Cantera is a $500-million project that will extend across 45 acres. Both the city and county have contributed some financial support.
The campus will include a human performance research center, a 22-acre park, a state-of-the-art Spurs performance center, a public outdoor event plaza and space for medical, hospitality and office use.
The ceremony marked the start of construction.
“As a global center of discovery focused on the advancement of human performance, The Rock at La Cantera will have a transformative impact on the communities we serve,” said RC Buford, CEO for SS&E. “Our ambitious concept creates an environment that fosters new conversations and capitalizes on resources in our region to drive human performance. It will present global thought leaders with the opportunity to calibrate their craft in a way that can help scale the learnings they're delivering on to the community at large.”
Among other things, the human performance research center will focus on skill development and coaching, nutrition, recovery, psychological and neurological domains, medicine as it pertains to optimizing injury and performance, technology, life skills, creativity, human spirituality and x factors like grit and resiliency.
Spurs officials said Dr. Andy Walshe, who is a globally recognized expert in the field of elite human performance, is working to form a unique consortium of world-class facilities with cutting-edge researchers and public and private partners.
“The human being is one of the most complex systems in the universe,” said Walshe. “Thanks to technology, we’re starting to peel back the layers to unpack what really makes elite people operate at peak performance. In the next 10 to 20 years, we’re going to uncover things that even today, we can't imagine. That's the most exciting part about this campus — it will be a focal point for that type of community and way of thinking.”
The campus will have 500,000 square feet of building space. There will also be a 22-acre park that will include the largest dog park in San Antonio and a trailhead with access to the Leon Creek and Salado Creek Greenways, leading to over 40 miles of trails.
The campus name comes from a quote by famed social reformer Jacob Riis equating work ethic to “hammering away at rock.” The concept of pounding the rock informs how the Spurs have long defined success — not as a tally of wins and losses, but as a steadfast commitment to daily incremental improvements, according to a news release.
Located in USAA Real Estate’s 1,200-acre master-planned community in Northwest San Antonio, Spurs officials said the Rock at La Cantera will be for all of San Antonio to enjoy with future retail, dining, park amenities and residences.
The Lincoln Property Company will serve as the project manager for the Spurs performance center.
