By JUSTIN SAUER
This fall when the Neptune High School girls’ volleyball team takes the floor for the first time, it will also mark the first time that an athletic team will be using the school’s newly renovated gymnasium.
Neptune High started renovations on its main gymnasium in June, when the 2012-13 school year ended, and is now ready to be used for the upcoming school year.
The last renovations to be completed are the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms and they are scheduled to b completed by the end of September.
According to Neptune H.S. Administrator of Athletics and Co-Curricular Activities Coordinator Lori Burns, the basketball court will remain in the middle of the main gymnasium.
However, the main volleyball court, which will be outlined in white, will also be in the middle of the gymnasium. There will also be four other volleyball courts outlined in gray that will go the opposite way of the main volleyball court.
“We changed and updated some of the graphics and some of the colors,” Burns explained. “We also stripped down the floor to make it a little bit lighter. It looks very shiny and new.”
What’s nice is that the overall look of the old gym still remains. We decided to keep the black outline on both ends of the baseline where it says Scarlet Fliers. It’s the same type of art work and it has the same feel as the old gym. We just made a few improvements.”
The school also had to remove some of the logos on the gymnasium floor to make way for the girls’ volleyball lines. They also painted all the walls a lighter white, modified the ceiling in an attempt to makes it look cleaner and a bit larger, and added a red and black stripe that goes around on the walls.
Along with the girls’ volleyball team in the fall, the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will be using the newly renovated gym in the winter, followed by boys’ volleyball (also in its first year) in the spring.
The school’s auxiliary gym will still be used mainly for girls’ gymnastics in the fall, wrestling and the occasional freshmen basketball games and/or practices in the winter. The auxiliary gym will also still be used for spring sport practices during poor weather.
“We have great indoor and outdoor facilities here and I think it was just time for the main gym to be updated,” said Burns, who was unsure the last time the main gymnasium was renovated.” I think playing different sports on a surface that is clean and has a little bit of a stick to it makes things a little bit easier and safer on the athletes. I also believe it’s better for the body, specifically the legs. It’s taken pretty much the whole summer but overall it looks great and we’re excited to start using it.”
