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Here are four things that officials say will set Ottawa University’s Surprise campus apart in the Phoenix area’s competitive higher-education landscape. Jackee Coe/azcentral.com
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College sports fans can bring their own seats and watch the West Valley’s newest university take the field.

Ottawa University Arizona’s campus opened in Surprise in August with 434 students, beating early projections by more than 100 students. The university hopes to grow to 3,000 students over the next decade or so. 

MORE: What’s new with plans to launch Ottawa University Arizona in Surprise?

Nearly all of the students play on one of 19 fledgling sports teams as the OUAZ Spirit. 

The sports teams have borrowed area facilities, which will continue for many of the teams until an $18 millionathletic complex opens in fall 2018. 

However, the soccer and football teams have newly laid turf on city-owned land on Tierra Buena Lane, near the Surprise Aquatic Center on Bullard Avenue.

About 300 fans watched the men’s and women’s soccer teams play their first home games at Spirit Field on Oct. 21. Permanent seating for 1,200 spectators should be in place by next summer. For now, the university provides benches and spectators are encouraged to bring their own seats.

The football team plays practice games at Spirit Field and will open its regular season next fall.

To grow the university Surprise has long sought, the northwest Valley suburb has spent $380,000 so far, with plans to spend a total of $2 million this year. Surprise has provided land and city-owned sports facilities for the teams, from the city’s spring-training ballpark to its tennis center, all near Spirit Field. 

The community is excited to get behind the college teams, Vice Mayor Todd Tande said. 

“I get a lot of people asking me, ‘Where is it?’ ‘When can we go?’ ‘Is there going to be stadium seating?’ ” he said.

The team schedules are online at ottawa.edu/ouaz/athletics.  

Campus life in Surprise

Ottawa freshman Miranda Ruiz moved to Surprise from Southern California.

Many of the students live in a nearby apartment complex and hotel. Dorms should open next year, university officials have said.

Classes are in the former Communiversity, which is next to City Hall and owned by the Maricopa County Community College District. Ottawa’s lease gives it exclusive use of the building that once housed multiple universities.

MORE: Surprise aims to become ‘college town’ with Ottawa University expansion

Spirit Field is conveniently close to the classroom building, said Ruiz, who plays on the soccer team.

“It’s definitely a nice field,” said student and soccer player Drew Theobald, who is from Surprise and earned a soccer scholarship from Ottawa.  “It’s not like they settled for something.”

The turf is made of composite material that is designed to reduce the on-field temperature by as much as 30 to 40 degrees, Surprise Campus Provost Dennis Tyner said.

The city spent $75,000 to add 140 more parking spaces nearby, and an additional $305,000 on other streets, landscaping, lighting, drainage and technology needs. 

With Spirit Field open, the race is on to build the three-story athletic complex that is under design. The complex is planned next to the field on city-owned land. The university pays Surprise about $28,000 annually to lease land for the field and that will increase as the school sprawls across more city land, Economic Development Manager Mike Hoover said. 

The athletic complex will include three gymnasiums and training space and it is where the basketball and volleyball teams will play.

For now, the university pays to borrow other venues. For instance, the men’s and women’s basketball season opened in October, playing home games at Willow Canyon High School. The men’s and women’s tennis teams are in the midst of their season, playing home games at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.

The university’s baseball season will open in January and play home games at Surprise Stadium, the spring-training home of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.

Ottawa’s athletic focus

Ottawa plays in the National Christian College Athletic Association and has applied for National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The only hiccup with the current association is that it doesn’t include men’s volleyball, although Ottawa fields a team. The team will play against other university teams, but likely won’t be able to compete in postseason play, Tyner said.

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