The Chadron Cardinals won’t play the inaugural contest in their renovated high school gymnasium until next week, but the community turned out to dedicate the facility Wednesday night.
The Chadron Chamber of Commerce hosted ribbon cutting ceremonies with a crowd of 75-100 turning out to get a closer look at the improvements and celebrate the accomplishment.
“We have a state-of-the-art facility here,” said School Board President Tom Menke.
The high school gymnasium has long faced challenges that discouraged its use for varsity level sports. It lacked enough seating for fans, suffered from floor damage, had a substandard sound system and inadequate wall padding.
All those issues were addressed during the renovation, noted Principal Jerry Mack. The district’s maintenance crew did as much of the work as possible and assisted the contractors as well. The seating in the high school gym increased by more than 240, which also offers more space than the middle school gym. The upgraded seating also decreases the labor required each time the bleachers need to be set up or retracted, Mack said. The old wooden bleachers necessitated the use of equipment and time-intensive work. The new bleachers are electronic and operated by the push of a button.
“It’s just amazing,” Mack said.
The project also included the creation of a new entrance to “The Cage,” upgraded wall padding, painting, a new court design, new baskets and the installation of a graphics board.
“We decided to go all out with our features at the gym, but I would say everybody is looking forward to the video board the most,” said Athletic Director Rick Barry. “We will have the capability to do so many different things for our student-athletes and coaches. This will include starting line-ups, game stats, partner recognition, school achievements, different uses for the classrooms and much more.”
Fans will also benefit from an improved sound system, and Barry said the game-day atmosphere should be a fun one.
“I believe The Cage will be exactly like The Birdcage. We have a fantastic student section, crowd and band,” Barry said. “I hope my ears will be ringing for hours after home games!”
Mack is looking forward to more people experiencing the renovated gym now that school is underway. “I’ve never seen so much community enthusiasm,” he said. All summer, community members have asked for sneak peaks at the work, and sponsors have supported the effort wholeheartedly, he added.
The renovation was paid for through multiple sources, none of which came from the district’s general fund, Menke said. Instead, the sale of the Alpha School and sponsorships made the project possible.
Cardinal volleyball will christen the gym Aug. 24 with a contest against Mitchell starting at 4 p.m. Fans will be able to return for a repeat experience the next night with a volleyball-football doubleheader against Gordon-Rushville starting at 4 p.m.