This past year, Spectrum High School decided to make not just an improvement, but to build a new gym facility and a weight room next to the middle school building. This new project started in January of last year and after almost a whole year of hard work and dedication, the new gym was finally completed and ready to use. This new facility was not just to improve our complex but to also help improve the training for a lot of players and bring closer the school spirit.
“It benefits students by giving them more space to practice and just a new facility to just experience and have for example the pepfest like that’s a new experience for everyone and it was really fun being in there,” said Cassidy Colbert, member of the Girls Varsity Basketball team.
“I think by having access to more space, more convenient space, more time in the gym and then time in the weight room it’ll improve students physical abilities, their skill set and ultimately improve our competitiveness with other teams,¨ said Spectrum Executive Director, Dan DeBruyn.
Inside the complex, with multiple courts and added facilities it allow teams to practice more efficiently than ever before. This a big change in our sports program by just not improving training but also securing a more safe place to train. Athletes can now train at the same time, run more drills, and take advantage of the extra room and securing more newer safety than before.
“The middle school and high school courts were so slippery. Like the old ones, they were like we would always be slipping and having to clean up the dust and stuff, like it was really bad. But like the new courts that we’re taking care of, we’re maintaining them better and that’s really nice for you. I mean not only not slipping but like athlete health like not getting injured in practice or in games and stuff like that,” said Boys Basketball Varsity player, Gavin Oblinger.
“I think I’ll help improve them by giving them access to be able to train on a regular basis at the same time along with lifting, being able to get more one-on-one instruction time with the coaches all that will benefit,” said Activities Director, Ben Poidinger.
You probably wonder who will be able to use the new facility? Well, there is a lot of students, teams, and even people that want to rent the gym that will be able to use it after certain policies and procedures come to place. From our school programs many teams such as wrestling, boys and girls basketball, track and field, and many teams will be able to use the gym no matter the season the sport is in. Also, in case of weather changes this will also be a big improvement for teams to still be able to train and not have those events cancelled.
“Along with, if you look at all our spring sports are right around the corner and the one thing we struggle with spring sports is being inside, and this facility will allow us to be able to train properly inside, get some long toss in, get some long sprints in, you know the new girls Flag football team, it allow them space to practice their place,” said Poidinger.
“I think it’s going to do a lot for all of our programs just to be able to have a much larger space to be able to practice when the weather is not cooperating. Well, as I said, use of gym space will always be at a premium. So our teams are going to be chomping at the bit to get in that space even out of season. So that makes it a bit challenging and that has to be a priority but certainly there will be outside groups that want to rent the facility, which will help with revenue and help to offset costs of our athletic programs which are very expensive. Outside of that of course we want to maximize the facility and give access to other groups and staff and students has to be coordinated and has to be on the calendar,” said DeBruyn.
The new facility complex has also become a way to improve our school spirit. With a lot more room for fans, students, and parents to attend it will change the atmosphere more than ever before. The new gym brings everyone from the school together and creates an exciting environment for school sports.
“I think people are really proud of it and like showing it off to people is exciting because it’s new and like Spectrum hasn’’t had a new facility in probably a long time. So, it’s really exciting to bring people there and just show like for people to see it,” said Colbert.
“More people can fit into the gym for our games, for basketball, for volleyball, whatever we have going on in there, the better because you can have more students in there and just the environment gets a lot better, gets a lot wilder, like a lot more people in there and then makes the games a lot more fun,” said Oblinger.
By improving the training of athletes, bringing closer the school spirit, and giving our whole community a place to be able to train and improve our health, Spectrum keeps improving every year and becoming a better school for everyone. Not just in academics, but recently in sports too.