New gym creates excitement
for athletes, coaches and fans
By Kevin Sjoberg
IN ADDITION TO THE IMPRESSIVE floor design, the Ashland District School gymnasium features four locker rooms, a training room and a fitness center.
ASHLAND – The new gymnasium at Ashland District School will be a major upgrade for Hornet athletes and fans alike.
“From the minute you walk in, people are going to be able to take pride in one of the best – if not the best – gyms in Aroostook County,” said long-time physical education teacher and coach Peter Belskis. “It’s a state-of-the-art facility and all the positive feelings can lead to potential success.”
The Bobby Goding Gymnasium, which served as the home court for Hornet basketball teams since 1950, was torn down last month as part of the demolition process of Ashland Community High School.
The poorly lit gym and subpar locker rooms are things of the past. Gone also are the infamous restraining lines from the old gymnasium, which were used due to the limited area between the walls and the gym’s sidelines and endlines. The new gym features a regulation-size floor with 10 feet separating the endlines and the walls and six feet separating the sidelines from the bleachers on one side and the wall on the other.
The facility has modern technological advances, including electronic controls that operate the bleachers, backboards and dividing curtain, according to SAD 32 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson. He added the gym’s new scoreboard can be controlled remotely.
The new gymnasium contains four locker rooms, two for girls and two for boys, along with a training room, equipped with a whirlpool tub and training table; three storage rooms, offices for the physical education teachers and a fitness center.
“I can’t imagine another school in the County equipped like we are now,” said Kevin Paradis, an Ashland alum who serves as the school’s varsity girls basketball coach, as well as the boys soccer coach. “The athletes are excited. I’ve already been approached by several players who can’t wait for basketball to start up, and that’s a first because soccer’s always been number one here.
“I’m hoping we can build the basketball culture a little bit to bring the sport to the level soccer is now,” Paradis added.
Johnson said plans are for the community to eventually have access to the fitness center during non-school hours. It contains stationary bikes, elliptical machines, treadmills, a universal weight machine and free weights.
The three-foot wide curtain will provide safety as the impact of any kind of strike or contact on one side will not be felt on the other side, according to Johnson. The divider and four additional backboards will allow for simultaneous full-court basketball games during practices. Johnson said the new floor also has markings for a regulation-size volleyball court.
Also constructed as part of the new facility is a broadcast booth, which can be accessed through the second floor.
The seating capacity in the gymnasium is 478, according to Johnson.
Another perk is that Ashland teams will now be able to host playoff basketball games in their own gym, something that was not the case in the past due to the less than regulation-size dimensions in Goding Gym. In past years, if Ashland was the host school for a playoff game, those contests were played in either Washburn or Presque Isle.
As for spring and fall sports, some major changes are also in store. The complex being constructed adjacent to the new school and in the place where the old school existed will have a baseball field, a softball field and two soccer fields, one of which will feature lights, Johnson said.
He added those playing fields are expected be to ready to be used during the 2011-12 school year. In the meantime, the baseball and softball teams will continue to play at McDonald Field, across from the former Ashland Central School on Oak Street, while the soccer teams will continue to use the Johnson Complex in Presque Isle for their home games.
