Story by Lilian Zhu
Staff Writer
Photo by Sean Jin
Staff Photographer
The new athletic facilities’ construction is one step closer to completion. The entire project totalled 13.5 million dollars, covering landscaping, a new field house, reflooring of the gym, and more.
The remodeling project started in November 2019 and was projected to finish in August 2020. However, the coronavirus outbreak postponed the finish date due to lockdown periods as well as slowed production of building materials from manufacturing plants. Despite these conflicts, construction was 95 percent completed at the start of the 2021.
The final step in the project consists of finishing the interior of the gym. SPHS athletic director Anthony Chan is looking to decorate the newly renovated weight room with student-submitted motivational quotes.
New aspects of the facility include a renovated gym: The iconic black and orange walls as well as the murals that covered the interior walls remain the same, but now shine with a new coat of paint. However, the floors and basketball hoops were replaced. The girls locker room was refurbished while the boys locker room was expanded, taking the place of the training room, which was relocated inside the field house.
“I’m excited to break the new gym in,” junior volleyball player Abby Garner said. “I feel like more people will want to come support us with the nice updates.”
In place of the previous visitor bleachers, a new field house was added. The field house is complete with a storage, media, and training room. The training room consists of new treatment tables, ice baths as well as washer and dryer, a trainer office, and cycling machine. Grandstand bleachers now exist behind the field house facing the football field, emulating the old visitor stands.
The new leveled out space next to Diamond Avenue was replaced with four exterior tennis and two exterior basketball courts, alongside the addition of batting cages. The parking lot on the south side of the facility was repaved as well and new fencing is in place. There has also been additions in landscaping with newly planted trees and plants to occupy the space.
“I’m looking forward to the weightroom itself. We’ve had to move the weights out onto the track in some cases, which has been difficult and is a time killer,” senior cross country runner Patrick Latting said. “I think the weightroom will help teams get more consistent and better training.”
Although the interior of the gym will not be utilized by students until the SPHS athletic department fully re- open, socially-distanced sports training will be able to use the outdoor facilities when athletics resume on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
