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Jenna Ries couldn't be more satisfied.

After 10 years of development, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase girls lacrosse head coach was finally able to offer Champions of Tomorrow club teams a permanent home in Rockville. Ries saw her vision fulfilled as the doors opened to the Champions Field House, a 50,000-square foot, state-of-the-art indoor athletic facility on Oct. 30.

"We imagined this," said Ries during an open house at building Friday. "But we didn't think it was going to happen. However, this was exactly the image we were hoping for."

As the varsity field hockey and lacrosse head coach at Quince Orchard during the mid-1990s, Ries found that female athletes lacked proper resources to train and achieve their goals. Thus, she founded Champions of Tomorrow, a program initially dedicated to increasing female athletic performance and opportunity year-round in field hockey.

In 1998, COT consisted of just 20 field hockey players training in the multi-purpose room at Westbrook Elementary in Bethesda. The program quickly expanded to include several thousands of athletes from both genders of all ages and abilities. Lacrosse, volleyball, futsal, soccer, baseball and softball clinics and teams have also been added.

"I grew up in Montgomery County playing soccer and field hockey," said Ries, a Bethesda native. "I just really loved coaching. It just snowballed … started with something small and just grew and grew."

As COT continued to grow, resources and playing space became tight. Teams were practicing all over Montgomery County, so Ries set out to find a place where she could consolidate by creating a communal gathering place for every athlete.

Ries found what she was looking for in a lot next to the Rockville Sportsplex and Ice Arena. Ground was broken in March after raising funds through her own contributions and several private investors.

"We reached a threshold where we really wanted to have our own building," said Ries. "In order for the sports that I love, field hockey and lacrosse, to really, really grow like they do in Annapolis and Baltimore, you need two systems in place. You need the backyard, ‘everybody's playing it' scenario to reach the masses and then you need to evolve by having systems in place that enable kids to move to the next level in college or pro."

Complete with two snap courts, two Fieldturf fields, batting cages and a full weight and cardio room, the Champions Field House is the largest complex of its type in the area. But it is the individual coaching instruction and fundamentals Ries stresses most.

"The staff is incredible," said Ries. "It's all from coaching and they are passionate about sports. ... It's been very satisfying to watch this happen, but it would have been impossible without the work ethic of the staff."

The staff consists of many former and current Washington, D.C. area high school athletes and coaches including Denise Infante, Jason Gasaway, Devin Payton, Mike Haight, Jennifer Greenberg, Ray Megill, Alan Pohoryles, Jim Bruno, Kip Turner, Karen Jones and Dr. Stephen Horwitz (Sports Injury Prevention Specialist).

Most of the staff has the same desire and passion for reaching out to the community and has been with Ries during much of the building process.

"Jenna and I met each other three and a half years ago," said Payton, who played soccer at Magruder. "We each had the same ideology. We both wanted to provide high quality sports for kids at all ages and all levels."

At the time, Payton was planning on building his own soccer/futsal complex, but decided to team with Ries.

"It just came together at the perfect time," said Payton. "I'm a firm believer in timing and the timing came in perfectly. … I don't want to say it's a match made in heaven, but it's kind of one of the best decisions we've both ever done together."