RHS COMPETITIVE GYM COMPLETED
After months of construction, the new athletic arena is put to use
In addition to opening up more space for practices and games, the new facility also provides outdoor education students more variety and a change of pace in their classes.
With the start of the new semester, the new gym has helped allow for more space to socially distance, as well as give the coaches and players something to look forward to during these hard times.
The new gym has the potential to serve two purposes: to help the coaches have a place of their own to be able to have meetings, and also to give the players a place to practice and play their games in a competitive gym.
In addition to the gym itself, the new facility also includes a brand new scoreboard, locker rooms, and offices for coaches.
Lamont Frazier, physical education teacher and basketball coach, recently held a basketball game in the new gym.
“The new gym has allowed the players to have a better atmosphere to play in and more space to show what they can do to other schools,” Frazier said.
The main thing that the coaches and students said they have enjoyed the most about the gym was the amazing new scoreboard.
“The scoreboard allows the coaches and players to see how they’re doing in the game. There’s a lot that can be done on the scoreboard,” Frazier said.
Coaches also said that they were excited to have their own offices and space for meetings and preparing for class and games.
“I think it has allowed the coaches the space they need to have good meetings and conversations with students and other teachers, versus the old gym where the offices were in the locker rooms,” Frazier said.
In addition, teachers and coaches said that they were excited for the rock wall. This was particularly exciting for outdoor education teachers because this year they were not able to go on field trips due to the pandemic.
“The wall is really fun to climb. I just wish I had a little more finger and forearm strength,” said Lizzy Kaufman, 12.
The main thing that the outdoor education students said they love about the rock wall is that it allows students an opportunity to get out of the classroom and do something new and exciting.
“The wall definitely adds a little bit of spice to our class. We haven’t been able to do a lot of things we normally would because of Covid, so it has been really nice to have the wall that we can climb and it’s really fun,” Kaufman said.
