Football field, track, baseball complex and school building to be renovated during summer.

With fall sports in full swing, RBHS student-athletes immerse themselves in performances on the field. But, the school’s athletic facilities will soon undergo major construction projects outside, impacting more than just this year’s season.
A multifaceted project, the first part of the construction plan has already begun, assistant principal Brian Gaub said. Once a gravel surface, the baseball and softball complex was covered in concrete before the beginning of softball season.
The school building itself will also undergo construction as the concrete of the main entrance will be replaced, as will the entire face of the east side of the building.
The most drastic portions of the project, however, will occur on the southern side of the school.
“The home grandstand and press box is going to be taken down in mid-October,” Gaub said. “The pole vault track south of the stadium will be replaced, the green fence that goes around the track is going down and one of the latter steps, so that it doesn’t get damaged in the process, is resurfacing the track.”
The school administrators ecided to push the replacement of the track to next summer so that the surface of the new track would not be damaged during the construction of the grandstands and fences.
The construction that is to occur on the grandstand is much more than a few small touches. Rather, the entire format and location of the grandstand will be changed, as the seating section will be moved much closer to the track.
The construction does have its inconveniences, however, primarily affecting spring sports. Athletic Director David Egan explains that the track and the turf will always be accessible to teams, although a temporary gate or pathway may be used to practice on the turf. For senior soccer player Molly Gunter, this is an important part of the construction process.
“I am glad that we practice on the turf and not the grass [next to the football field],” Gunter said. “So many injuries happen out there and it’s not fair.”
Larger issues regarding the logistics of games still loom, however.
“The big difference is that all spectator seating will be in the visitors section. The home grandstand will be in the state of construction so it won’t be accessible for people to sit there,” Egan said. “We also haven’t completely decided how we are going to do the game operations that historically take place in the press box — the operation of the scoreboard and operation of the PA system. We’ll have to create some sort of temporary makeshift whether that’s a trailer or a tent that covers the technology.”
Despite the obstacles facing spring sports teams, Gaub sees the construction as a necessary project and an exciting challenge for the school, especially as schools with the same size as RBHS have much more advanced facilities.
“It is great and it’s awesome, but there is going to be some real inconveniences in the meantime,” Gaub said. “It’s going to change everything. With track in the spring and girls soccer, we have a lot of things to figure out. But it is exciting. We’ve just gotten behind [on our facilities] and it’s time to fix it.”