Upgrades make MFL MarMac gym more attractive, usable
Upgrades to the MFL MarMac high school gym over the summer have transformed it into a more attractive and usable space. Major changes included removing the stage and relocating the scorer’s table and player benches to the visitor side of the gym—a move that frees up seating. (Photo courtesy of Erik Peterson)
A new roll down curtain can lower to where the stage edge was, creating a divide for a smaller area that elementary P.E. or sports practices can utilize. (Photo by Audrey Posten)
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
Upgrades to the MFL MarMac high school gym over the summer have transformed it into a more attractive and usable space.
Athletic director Erik Peterson called the work a continuation of improvements done last summer, with new scoreboards and mats on the gym walls, and over winter break, when the stage curtains were removed as well as the large pillars on each side of the stage—a move that heightened aesthetics and visibility on that side of the gym.
This summer, the stage itself was removed.
“The stage only took a day and a half to remove. All manual labor. We pried up the deck boards, like a hardwood floor,” Peterson described.
A row of ADA-compliant bleacher seating (about 40 spots) was added on the visitor side of the gym. The scorer’s tables and player benches were also relocated to this side, freeing up seating in the home bleachers.
Without the scorer’s table, as well as two rows taken up by coaches, players and all their belongings, Peterson estimates the home side gains 100 seats. Adding the 40 seats on the visitor side brings bleacher capacity to about 930.
“We really maximized bleacher capacity,” Peterson said. And without the stage, “the gym is wheelchair accessible from everywhere now.”
Other components included building equipment storage space in the north and south corners and refinishing the concrete floor under the former stage area.
A new roll down curtain can lower to where the stage edge was, creating a divide for a smaller area that elementary P.E. or sports practices can utilize.
“Before, there was limited space. Now, it’s a defined space. [On the other side of the curtain], you can have two courts, and here you could be doing other stuff,” Peterson said. “It’s more usable space for the gym.”
One improvement that was not made was lighting. But with the stage gone, the gym simply looks brighter and more open, noted Peterson. He’s hopeful a fresh coat of paint can further enhance that down the road.
The summer work came in under $100,000, according to Peterson. He credited Allen Roofing & Construction and Real Estate Company for allowing use of a dumpster. Fisk Farm & Home let them borrow a scissor lift, and Clayton County Recycling donated steel to create the threshold between the gym floor and former stage area.
“These were some cost saving measures,” Peterson said. “Anything I could do myself, I did.”
Peterson believes the upgrades make the gym not only more modern and usable, but safer and easier to clean.
“It really updates the space. Anyone who comes in can see that,” he shared.
The space could even serve as a competition gym if the school district opts not to build another athletic facility in the future.
“I’m not sure of the end goal,” Peterson acknowledged, “but it’s given us an idea of what we have to work with to create an overall facility plan.”
