Kennesaw State University's sports mascot is the Owl - and the new recreation facility that opened this month at the school is truly something to "hoot" about.

It features two state-of-the-art artificial turf fields, a practice field and a large weight room, all centered around what until recently was a Gold's Gym on 14 acres off George Busbee Parkway. The facility is part of a larger 88-acre tract bought by the KSU Foundation last year east of Interstate 75.

Plans for that larger tract include construction - already begun - of an 8,300-seat soccer stadium; more multi-purpose fields, sand volleyball courts; nearly a mile of nature and walking trails; and a 10-acre lake.

Those fields, and the ones at the facility that opened this month, will be used by KSU's intramural and club sports teams.

"This is an immense enhancement of campus life for our students," KSU President Dr. Dan Papp told the MDJ. "We had considerably outgrown the 1.6 acres of intramural fields that existed on KSU's main campus before the opening of this facility."

Some 2,200 of KSU's 22,500 students take part in intramural and club sports, including flag football, basketball, softball, hockey, cheerleading, lacrosse and rugby. You can expect those numbers will go up as the number of playing fields - i.e., the opportunity - increases.

(Readers of Cobb Life magazine, published by the MDJ, will recall that this month's issue profiled Dr. Papp's enthusiasm - and his years of participation - in rugby.)

The new fields will be paid for by the $40-per-semester student activity fees.

The new fields mark another step in the formerly landlocked school's expansion across I-75 as its enrollment, its offerings and its prestige continue to grow.

"We are exploding in every single way, both in size and in quality," said KSU Foundation Chairman Norman Radow.

Indeed. And we're confident this next chapter of the KSU saga will be one to behold.