As the weather goes from cold to freezing, everyone is forced indoors. Sports are no exception, as the Park gyms are filled and constantly in high demand. Park has two gyms, the main gym and the field house—both are rarely empty and coordinating times is more challenging than one might think.
Assistant varsity boys’ basketball coach Chris Nordstrom said it hasn’t been awful sharing gym space between the boys and girls basketball programs. He said it can be challenging for other boys’ teams, but it’s okay for his team.
“It hasn’t been too bad this year. We have a good relationship with the girl’s program and head coach. Overall, it’s been okay,” Nordstrom said. “At times, some of the lower-level teams get crunched in one court, which isn’t ideal. At the varsity level, it is nice to have our own court.”
Ewald said some instances make it a challenge to accommodate everyone who needs the gyms. He said later in the school year, it’s challenging to make sure the teams have space to practice.
“There are times where, because conferences might be going on, or open houses, or a district-wide concert, where we’re giving the space up, because that’s the right thing to do for the big picture of everything,” Ewald said. “Other than that, we pretty much do okay because in the fall, it’s just volleyball using it unless there’s really bad weather, then maybe soccer will come in. In the winter, it’s just the two basketballs, and they work well together to make it equitable. The spring gets tricky because you’ve got a lot of outside sports that until it’s nice enough to be outside constantly need indoor time.”
Freshman Arnie Yarosh said finding adequate space for the baseball teams to practice has been difficult. He said some circumstances force them into a smaller area.
“It’s been a little challenging because there’s a lot of teams that need to fit in small gyms,” Yarosh said. “Sometimes it works out, but a couple (of) times we can only use half the court.”
Park’s athletic director Andrew Ewald said coordinating gym space for all teams isn’t too much of an issue when all of it is accessible. He said the coaches are good at dividing up the space for their teams.
“It’s not that challenging when we have both spaces available. Last year was challenging with not having the full activity center because the cafeteria (and) made things challenging,” Ewald said. “With both available and online spaces, our coaches work well to sit down and figure out what’s equitable.”
Nordstrom said accommodating every team’s needs becomes more challenging with an increasing number of players. He said for many years, non-varsity teams have had to postpone practice due to the gym’s capacity and scheduling.
“The more numbers you have, the more kids, the more teams you’re going to have and a greater struggle for space,” Nordstrom said. “There’s been a couple of years where some of the lower level teams have to go at a later time because of just overall gym space and sharing.”
Yarosh said his team is often forced to share space with the other ninth-grade team. He said this keeps them from reaching their full potential, as they might not get the full court.
“We usually share a court, us (nine B) and nine A, and just each practice on a half court, which is frustrating,” Yarosh said. “Having a court to ourselves is helpful because it helps us do our drills that we need to full court and we can get a lot more done.”
Nordstrom said it was challenging the past year not to have enough space. He said it’s been much better this year with the court back.
“Having that extra court is huge (and it was) a frustration last year, being very short on courts—you’re losing 25% of your court space,” Nordstrom said. “Having that back has alleviated a lot, and we don’t have to have any levels practice at a later time.”