SHS administration, athletic dept. team up for gymnasium redesign

Solon’s newly designed gymnasium brings excitement to the School

This year, Solon High School’s recent addition to the school was a revamped gymnasium. The modified gymnasium features a newly designed look complete with a refinished floor.

The gymnasium in the school, which was often referred to as the “new gym,” wasn’t actually new- it was decades old and had been on the school’s agenda for the past couple of years. Solon High School’s Principal, Erin Short, teamed up with Solon’s Athletic Director, Mark McGuire, to get the project approved and funded by the Board of Education. After it was approved, it was Short’s job to come up with the new design.

“I spend a lot of time going to gyms, girls and boys basketball games and volleyball games,” Short said. “Collectively, I gathered ideas from our head coaches, the web, college and high school courts and then came up with a design.”

Short explained that the gym structure is still the same, but now it is aesthetically improved. The original wood has been stripped down to its raw natural wood and re-stained a lighter shade. It also features a new sound system and painted white walls with a blue stripe around them. “SC” is painted in the center of the court; however, the yellow color has been taken out of the original design since the school colors are now only blue and white.

With a new court comes new restrictions. Since the finish of the wood is still new, it is only allowed to be cleaned once a week.

“We’ve learned that there are upgrades with caring for the court,” Short said. “We are getting new equipment to take care of it. If you don’t [wear] clean shoes on the court, it gets dirty and wears down very quickly. [Dirty shoes] can bring dirt and dust in, which make it slippery. We need the court to be safe for our competition teams and for the teams we play.”

This new restriction directly affects the SHS Physical Education Department. Melissa Fitzgerald, the Physical Education Department Head, explained that phys ed students will now only be allowed to use the two outside courts in the new gymnasium, and not the main competition court.

“It would have been a big problem if we had more than two classes using the court at the same time,” Fitzgerald said. “All previous years we’ve had certain periods with three classes at the same time, and that would make it nearly impossible to really run phys ed classes the way we want to run them. The administration worked really hard this year to only have a max of two classes at a time. We have enough room for most activities, but for other activities we’re going to need to do some modification.”

Physical education classes still have the auxiliary gym, the weight room, the track and field and the two side courts to use. Fitzgerald acknowledged that the new restrictions on the main court still create challenges when it’s time to play big, full court games, such as matt ball, lacrosse and soccer.

“I’m hoping that eventually we can come up with some solutions to allow more phys ed students to utilize the main floor while also protecting it,” she said. “It really is a floor that physical education should use as well as all the sports teams.”

The last new addition to the gym were two brand new score boards donated by the Solon Athletic Boosters. McGuire explained that the new scoreboards were supposed to be installed Aug 14. The delay is due to the manufacturer being backed up on several orders. The volleyball team was the first to use the new scoreboards. 

McGuire explains that not only is the floor great to play on, but it also adds excitement for everyone that is going to be using it.

“Two years ago, we replaced the turf in the stadium; last year we replaced the track, and now it’s the gym,” McGuire said. “It’s a compliment to our school board for their support and what they’ve been able to do for the athletes and the sports teams of Solon. It’s been huge for us, for the kids and for the school.”

Short said that the true motivation for a new gymnasium was the athletes.

“Like our football players, our soccer players, our band or our track team, they work really hard.” Short said. “I think that this is our commitment to our coaches, our kids and our community that we want to provide our kids with the best facilities that they deserve. We look forward to years of success on that court, watching our kids play.”