At long last, a new gym floor
Campus Times
April 3, 1998
Finally, a new gym floor is in the making. Last week it was confirmed
by Athletic Director Jim Paschal that the University of La Verne will build
a new wooden gym floor, upstairs in the Supertents.
Do you know what that means? A lot less injuries, a better looking gym
and a lot of happy athletes.
Every semester that I have attended La Verne, I have come across someone
hurting themselves on that ugly, green, rubber floor upstairs, including
myself. Just this past basketball season, freshman Matt Alley, a member
of the men's basketball team, had to undergo anterior cruciate ligament
(ACL) surgery due to that floor athletes have no choice but to play on.
As I have mentioned in previous columns and articles, the floor upstairs
is made up of rubber and plastic, rather than wood. And over the years,
the plastic has been tearing off, and the rubber underneath the plastic
has hardened. This has led to a lack of cushion and athletes are unable
to run and jump as comfortably as they would on a wooden floor, leading
to injury after injury. Jumping on that rubber floor is like playing on
concrete.
There is even a particular spot on the rubber floor where the plastic
rubber actually lifts up and underneath less than one fourth of an inch
of rubber is a hard cement ground, which is so dangerous for athletes to
play volleyball, basketball or any sport on.
Paschal has been looking into getting a new gym floor for the past year
and because of the costs, the project looked hopeless for a while.
The particular floor that Paschal is looking into costs approximately
$165,000 and because of donors giving money to fund the project, such as
the Associated Students Federation (ASF) Forum, the Athletic Department
was able to start planning the building of a new, wooden floor.
Having been injured on that rubber floor last year during basketball
season and having to have ACL surgery on my left knee, the new floor means
so much.
I strongly believe that I injured myself because of that rubber floor.
It is so hard and has no shock absorbency. It is like jumping on concrete
and practicing basketball on concrete everyday cannot be good for the knees
or any other part of the body. Every time someone steps off that court upstairs
I am sure that the rubber floor has affected them. And there is not just
knee injuries, but back and ankles problems as well. The reason gym floors
were built was so athletes would not have to play on the blacktop of playgrounds.
Concrete is just too dangerous to play on and injuries occur far too often.
Even though I am a graduating senior and my basketball career is over,
I am still so happy that this important project is finally happening. I
would never wish it upon anyone to injure themselves and have to have any
type of surgery.
There will be hundreds of athletes who will come through La Verne and
play on the floor upstairs and because of the new floor that is being put
in, I believe there will be a lot less injuries.
Do not get me wrong. Injuries can happen on any floor at any given time,
whether it is wooden or rubber, but a new wooden floor will reduce the chance
of that happening and athletes will not have to worry about injuring themselves
as much.
The process of building the new floor could take two to four weeks.
Paschal hopes to have the new floor put in by the summer but does not want
to interfere with any volleyball or basketball camps that the University
puts on.
Once the new floor is in, there will be some new rules that La Verne
students will have to adjust to. Such as, no food or drink will be allowed
in the gym. Plus, no street shoes will be allowed. The floor is going to
cost a lot of money, Paschal is proud of it and wants nothing to ruin it.
Can you blame him?
I am finally seeing something accomplished at this school. We have been
in desperate need of a new gym floor for many years now. The athletes that
use the gym are in danger every time they step on that unsafe court. Soon,
that will not be a problem.
Laura Czingula, a senior journalism major, is editor in chief of
the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at czingula@ulv.edu.
