Thursday, October 2, 2008 — Anyone remember the battle years ago over middle school versus K-8?

I’ll give all of you who were in that fight a moment to recover from the acid reflux that battle gave us all.

We have a bigger problem then that now: the outdated state of our athletic facilities county wide.

As the importance of high school athletics has grown in Stanly County, the facilities have not been growing at the same rate.

I found out from some sources that Albemarle high school was actually built in 1958 and the other three non-charter high schools, North, South and West, were all built in 1962.

Back then, there were not as many women’s sports nor men’s sports as well, mostly just football, basketball and baseball.

I’m also pretty sure that all the schools have had growth in the number of students from then to now.

As a county, we have increased the number of sports we play without increasing the number of facilities to play them in.

Just from the standpoint of comfort, consider the basketball gyms in the high schools.

Albemarle’s gym is the size of Richfield Elementary’s gym. For any rivalry game, especially the North Stanly game, you have to arrive two hours ahead of schedule to find a seat.

Even if you are lucky to find one, fans, cheerleaders, players and game operations staff are jammed in together like sheep, shoulder to shoulder.

I’m glad to know that Albemarle is in line to get some new facilities. I know that this topic is very touchy, but any of our schools that can get any improvements needs to do so.

Every gym in the county is undersized, especially for county games or any needs of the schools during school hours, say for pep rallies.

I was at a pep rally at North Stanly a couple of years ago and if the close quarters were not uncomfortable enough, the heat in the gym was stifling.

In fact, at any game in the county, including the volleyball games I’ve covered this season, the gyms are much too uncomfortable.

They need to have better seating, more seating and better lighting, air conditioning, sound systems, etc.

I can hear all the non-sports supporters screaming in the distance right now about how sports is not as important as academics are.

Don’t forget, though, that these gyms are used almost every period of every school day for P.E. and physical development classes.

No one would question that the reason students are in school is to learn critical thinking skills and prepare themselves for college and the workforce.

However, it’s hard not to see the benefits of extracurricular activities and the life skills that they teach.

Beyond that, physical activity has been shown in studies to help the brain function better and a well-rounded eduction of students must also include a healthy body.

The ideals and morals learned in athletic endeavor, whether extracurricular or in school, are standards that we should all strive to have in our lives: dedication, hard work, sacrifice, teamwork.

I spoke to Superintendent Dr. Sam DePaul, who told me that he wants people to know that the school board is aware of the problems and asks for the community’s patience as they work out the snags that have come up and get these facilities updated.

Dr. DePaul said that the school board meeting this coming Tuesday should help to move the project forward so the board can look at making improvements in other facilities.

He also said that the plan is to try to make improvements every year or two, depending on the resources available.

So I believe that the school board is doing their part. But we as a community have to get behind the board and get some grass-roots efforts to raise money for the new buildings.

I’ll buy a chicken dinner if you will. Let’s give our kids a better future.



Contact Charles Curcio at (704) 982-2121, ext. 12, or email at charles@stanlynewspress.com.