Since the end of the fall season, the soccer, football and track facilities have already seen the beginning of a construction project, which will renovate and upgrade facilities.  Brian Gaub, assistant principal and operations director said  the building that opened in 1973 has expanded its body from around 500 to more than 1,900 students, and the growing student population calls for improvements and remodeling.
“The project in the stadium greatly upgrades the facilities for large outdoor events,” Gaub said. “[The] current plan is to have the majority of the work done by August of 2017.  It is a very large project, and the weather has quite an impact on it, too.”
Gaub said, the new project works to increase the facilities size, especially in concession stand and the bathrooms near it.  The remodeling of the home bleachers will add seats for fans, but also handrails for those with disabilities. The addition of bathrooms, concessions and band equipment storage will also add storage underneath the press box.
Besides the addition of new accessibilities for spectators, the repairing of the track will bring better surfaces and playing grounds.
“The fence around the track will be replaced, and the track will be resurfaced,” Gaub said.  “The current visitor bleachers, field turf and field lights will remain.”
While the benefits of the improved facilities work to impress spectators and , junior cross country and track runner Jadie Arnett finds the construction during her season more of a setback.
“With everything sectioned off, it gets in the way of simple things like doing leg swings and stretching.  While we can still get everything done we have to work around it,” Arnett said.  “What’s bothering me most is that track will start in February.  I don’t see how they are going to get the entire stadium done in four months.”
Though Arnett finds the timing a little inconvenient, sophomore soccer player Lily Abraham looks forward to the renovations that will hopefully make playing on the new facilities more enjoyable.
“I’m looking forward to this change because it can help benefit soccer players if the facility in redone well,” Abraham said. “When the concessions and bathrooms are made bigger, it might be more helpful during games. Also, when there are football games, sometimes there’s not enough seats so the additions of more spots will help.”
While the timing for some athletes might be inconvenient to their training, the improvements and renovations can only make being an athlete at RBHS more enjoyable.
“I think the timing isn’t the best but I’m still excited because the track will be resurfaced. It’s about five years overdue too,” Arnett said.  “Just looking at [the track] you know it’s a terrible, and I can feel it in my legs after workouts.”