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Show A Whale in In A Sardine Can by Jim Smedley If you ever participated in a phone booth jamming contest or pondered the question "How many elephants can you fit in a Volkswagon?"you would be familiar with the problem football coach Bob Burns has to face. The JV and varsity football teams had 67 athletes who had not choice but to cram their full fottball gear into 39 full-size, 18 half-size and 140 one-fifth sized lockers. Thirty nine of the full size lockers are bunched in a 9 Vi ' by 9' cubicle. It's tighter than tight - like trying to fit whale in a sardine can. Burns said the term "full size locker" was misleading because it held all the football gear "only if you crammed it in and closed the door with your foot". Shoulder pad and helmets don't fit in the one-fifth sized lockers. And the problem is going to get worse because Burns is anticipating 75-80 kids coming out for football this year. The high school is graduating 45 seniors this year and expects 80 incoming freshmen. PCHS principal Jack Dozier said it would not be unrealistic to have over 300 students there in 1983. Football is not the only sport suffering the effects of rapid growth. Currently four basketball teams, varsity and JV, mens and womens teams are all vying for time on the only basketball court. The court is too small for cross court action according to coach Bruce Reid. The staff dealt with the problem by having the girls varsity and JV teams practice before school and first period while the boys' JV's practice from seventh period until 4 p.m. and the varsity form 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Girls gymnastics, wrestling and weightlifting are also suffering. When the school was built the balcony overlooking the gym was designated as their space. It is only 20' by 80' which is not wide enough for the wrestling team to spread its mats or high enough for the girls to practice the uneven parallel bars or vaulting. The locker rooms, balcony and gym are simply inadequate for the growth the school is experiencing now and will be a joke three to five years from now. Is this any way to treat athletes in a school that will soon be 2A? Can you picture your son coming home and telling you he could not be on the football team because there was no locker space for him? Or your daughter saying she hurt herself moving the heavy gymnastic equipment around in the multi purpose room - which is what the gymnastic team does before and after every practice there. It wouldn't set too well would it? Burns, Dozier and Reid spoke to the Board of Education at its May 12 meeting to explain the problems the high school was facing and ask for some relief. Burns spent several hours preparing a diagram of the existing facilities and a possible solution. He said the north wall of the gymnasium was built with expansion in mind. The bricks could be knocked out exposing four or five T beams and another building could be added. He said the heating system was also set up so it could be easily expanded. Burns proposed the first segment of the new building be a locker facility with coaches offices. Currently four full-time and three part-time coaches share a 7' by 7' office. He further suggested that the second segment hold a basketball gym with a multi-purpose floor so various nonathletic activities could also be held there. The upper balcony portion of the new building could be constructed large enough so the wrestling mat and all the gymnastic equipment could fit. Moveable bleachers could also be installed for viewing the basketball games. The Board of Education was sympathetic to the high school's plight. "I would like to say go ahead and have an architect design what you need," said Nancy McComb president of the School Board. "But we need to address the problem of money." And the school board has many pressing money problems. The construction of a new middle school is its top priority, as well it should be. But along with the construction of the middle school, the Board is hoping an athletic complex will be built with the city's financial assistance, which they feel will "act as a stop gap" and help alleviate the high school's problem. But realistically, the new middle school and alheltic complex would not be finished until 1983. and that is probably rushing it. And when the complex is built the high school would have "exclusive use" of it between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. But how practical isi going to be taking an athletic team en masse with all the equipment 300 or 400 yards to practice? And where will the football team store its athletic equipment this year? Simple.' The coaches will just have to ask that sardine to roll over because there is a whale coming in. It's really no way to treat budding 2A athletes. |