SEARCY — If you need evidence that the sports programs at the Searcy schools are growing, look toward the construction near the Searcy High School gym where a new field house is being built.
The district began construction on the $4.3 million project in late August, and the projected completion date is June 2013.
“We needed a new physical education area for all of our sports,” said Betsy Bailey, school and community coordinator for the Searcy School District. “We needed to increase the size [of the field house] because our programs are really growing.”
The new field house isn’t just for football. It will be a multipurpose facility for all the athletic programs, including physical education classes, in the district.
“We are building it so all sports can have access to it,” said James Frank, athletic director for the district. “It will have yard lines and end zones, baseball and softball inlays, and a track surface at the very end, as well as a pole-vault pit and soccer lines.”
He said the field house will also have large doors to make it accessible to the practice fields.
“It’s not just a bad-weather facility,” he said. “It can help in season as well as offseason sports. The PE classes will have access to it, too.”
The 52,925-square-foot facility will also contain coaches’ offices, a media room, a classroom, girls and boys dressing rooms, laundry rooms and weight rooms.
Frank said the current field house will be used for the wrestling team and batting cages, and the coaches’ offices will be used for storage.
“The wrestling team practices at an elementary gym,” Frank said. “We are moving them into the old field house so they won’t have to travel to work out every day. They’ll have a home.”
He said the athletic department needed a multipurpose facility, and the new one is designed to accommodate every team sport in the district.
For more information on Searcy’s athletic programs, visit www.searcyschools.org.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.