(Audubon) A $7.5 million bond issue for the Audubon School District involves mostly upgrades for academics, but some of those improvements will have a ripple down effect for the athletic department.
KSOM/KS95.7 Sports spoke with Audubon Activities Director Sean Birks about the enhancements that’ll be experienced for the sports facilities. Birks says, “We’re pretty fortunate right now that a lot of our facilities have been remodeled in the last decade. #1 is the heading and cooling part which will effect our gym and weight room. Right now it’s pretty toasty in there especially for volleyball. It’s an old system and it just doesn’t work very well.”
The gym will have new bleachers. “Trying to get a little more capacity with steeper bleachers and making more room between bleachers so people could sit up a little higher and see a little better.”
Another change in the gym will be a new sound system. “We are looking at some different options on what to do there, but we are well aware that our sound system is not very good.”
The weight room will receive a facelift. “Completely gutting that with new floors and ceiling. We are looking at basically all new equipment as well. The weight room will be in the same spot, but look totally different.” Some of the new equipment is pending the school being able to obtain grant money.
HVAC improvements are scheduled for this summer with gym and weight room renovations to take place in the summer of 2021. “The construction people’s sales pitch was the students will be going out front door in May and we’ll be coming in the back door and then by the time they return in August we’ll be sneaking out the back door. It’s going to take most of the summer of 2021 if everything goes as planned. Ideally when we kick off the 2021-22 school year it could be a totally different look for some of the areas in our school.”
Birks notes several of their facilities have been upgraded within the last ten years, but they still have some items on the horizon including a restroom at the baseball field. “Both baseball and softball are pretty top notch in terms of actual playing surfaces, but one of the wish list items would be a bathroom. We share right now with our youth program for a concession stand and their is a restroom across the street, but it’s not very convenient especially for our older fans.”
The football stadium and track were upgraded within the last five years, but the playing field itself is in need of some attention. “The track got resurfaced three or four years ago, but the next thing to come is the football field. We are probably going to need to do something resurfacing with new sod or new seeding. We probably aren’t in the turf market as an 8-player school. We are going to have to figure out ways to keep our natural grass going. Eight home games last year was kind of tough on us.”
