A new surface is going down

Last week I talked about a couple of changes that will be taking place when we throw up the rock for the start of the 2023-24 basketball season this fall.
This week, if you’ll find a separate article beginning on page one, you’ll find more details about another change that fans and players will be noticing when the games begin  again.
A crew is working now to install a new wall to wall floor in the Lindle Castle Gymnasium and not only will the look be an improved one (although very, very similar to the one coming out), but it will be a much improved surface for our players – roundball and volleyball.
While our maintenance crews and coaching staffs have done an excellent job in protecting and preserving the floor surface since it was installed many years go, wear and tear, and as it turns out, just age, has taken its toll.
I stopped by last week to see the progress being made on removing the existing flooring and preparing the subsurface for the new layer of playing wood.
The foreman on the job took the time to show me some of the problems that had developed with the floor that was being removed.
The base of the gym floor is concrete, of course, which holds a layer of 2xs running from the stage end to the lobby end and spaced likely from 16 inches to a couple of feet apart.
It was that level of the subsurface where the dead spots were caused, with the anchoring system originally being put in place when the gym was constructed in the early 1970s, now letting that bottom layer of 2xs loose.
Those problems will be repaired, the next layer of plywood and flooring will go down, and after finishing and striping is complete, the Castle will have an all new look for the coming year.
Add that to the new bleachers that were installed last season, and it’s a look that will add to the classic gymnasium that’s been in place, and well maintained, for fifty years.
Then there’s the performance factor.
There were literally dozens of “slow” spots on the floor, and a few that could only be described as “dead”.  During basketball games, when the lead official checked the ball for proper inflation, he would have to take a few steps back from the official table before allowing the ball to bounce up from his head height – one dead spot was directly in front of the table, and our officials all knew that.
While this new floor will certainly enhance the look of the facility that our basketball and volleyball programs call their home court, it will also be a much safer, more stable surface with a consistent reaction to the players and ball movement.
Not only will that make the game more enjoyable for everyone, but it should also enhance the safety factor where players, especially players’ knees and ankles are concerned.
That alone, makes the improvement totally worth it.