Grace Dunklin, Campus Carrier Staff Reporter
The athletics department has expanded into and begun renovations on Richards Memorial Gym in anticipation of football at Berry.
The gym, which formerly held student publications and the dance studio, was slated to be torn down to make room for new apartment-style student housing.
Head Football Coach Tony Kunczewski said the department wanted to use Richards Gym rather than tear it down.
“We felt like wherever the stadium was, we wanted to utilize Richards Gym,” Kunczewski said. “We saw a beautiful brick building; it would be a shame to tear it down.”
The Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Debbie Heida, who has been on the team responsible for the renovation of Richards and the planning of Valhalla, the football stadium, said Berry looked at many options for the new football facilities, but ultimately decided to combine many of the ideas into the pre-existing space in Richards Gym.
“Richards wasn’t being used that much,” Athletics Director Todd Brooks said. “It’s just kind of been a nomad on campus for a while. It’s really not been maintained all that well. If you look at the structure of the building on the outside, with the columns, it’s really a unique looking building and I think it would have been a shame to see it deteriorate and never be used. This really gives it a breath of life.”
Though Valhalla Stadium is going to be located behind the Cage Center, Heida does not think the five-minute walk from Richards to the stadium will be a problem.
“On game day they are planning a Viking walk from the Richards locker room to the stadium,” Heida said. “Make it a good thing, rather than ‘Oh, there’s a five-minute walk between the locker rooms and the stadium.’ You use it to strengthen something that could be a fun tradition.”
Kunczewski said the use of Richards Gym may help keep the Cage Center more open, as it currently is extremely crowded during peak hours. With the addition of the specialized equipment for the football team, the Cage Center would be extremely crowded.
In order to alleviate this crowding issue, the old pool area of Richards will be filled in, and a strength and conditioning center added. Brooks said that it will look a lot like the floor of The Cage, but be a space for weightlifting as opposed to cardiovascular exercise. The center will be open to all students, not just the football team. Heida said this will be the biggest part of the renovation.
“We need to accommodate football, but not create things that are just for football,” said Heida.
Kunczewski said the benefits of the renovations would extend beyond football.
“It’s not just a football facility, it’s going to benefit the whole campus,” Kunczewski said.
Once the renovations are complete, the football, lacrosse and tennis offices will all be located in Richards Gym, Kunczewski said. Heida said these offices will be in the spaces previously occupied by student publications.
In addition to the offices upstairs, the downstairs of Richards Gym will house football, lacrosse and tennis locker rooms. For men’s and women’s lacrosse and men and women’s tennis, this will be the first time they have locker rooms of their own.
“Right now, lacrosse shares with soccer way up at Ford [Fields], so this will give them a place to keep their equipment and come and go as they need to between practice and class,” said Brooks.
Brooks also said the wooden floor in the gymnasium is being redone, as it was damaged during a foam dance last year. It will become a multi-use space that outside groups, such as summer camps, in addition to groups from Berry, can use. Other areas being renovated are the dance studio, which will get a new floor, and the Berry Outdoor Leadership Program (BOLD) offices.
One of the intramural fields behind Richard Gym is being repurposed as a football and lacrosse practice field, but the other two intramural fields are remaining as they are.
Renovations have been taking place since the end of February and will be finished by mid June at the latest, Brooks said.
Updates and a tour of the facilities can be found at berryvikings.com.