HUBBARD SCHOOLS Wrestling coach discusses plans for sports complex

Questions remain about the fate of the pool.
By MIKE VAN CLEAVE
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HUBBARD -- On a night when the board of education announced an interim superintendent would be taking over for the departing Jim Herrholtz, it was a wrestling coach who drew the most applause.
Soon after the board named long-time faculty member Lucille Esposito as interim superintendent Monday night, wrestling coach Shane Zoccule energized a crowd of nearly 100 with his plans to get a sports complex built for athletes in Hubbard schools.
Zoccule said the lack of space for athletics in Hubbard schools often forces wrestlers to practice until 9:30 on school nights. With help from the Expedited Local Partnership Program, a state program to help school districts improve learning facilities, he vowed to head a fund-raising effort to cover the costs that the program will not.
"We owe this to the kids," he said. "We can't have wrestlers getting out of practice at 8 and 9:30 [p.m.] and still expect them to get good grades."
Looking at costs
The costs of building a sports complex could range from $200,000 to more than $500,000, Zoccule said, and ELPP would cover 69 percent of those costs if Hubbard is approved.
The price would depend on whether the complex was built alone or in conjunction with the football stadium or the swimming pool -- both of which need additional repairs.
Parents of football players and parents of swim club members voiced opinions about Zoccule's plan. Some were overwhelmingly supportive; others were concerned that his plan would devour money and support needed to reopen the Hubbard swimming pool.
"We would love to see a new football facility and a new wrestling facility, but without that [new facilities] there still will be wresting and football," parent Tim Ludig said. "Right now, we have no place to swim."
The cost of fixing the roof on the pool, which was closed this year after the board got a report that the building was unsafe, would range from $173,000 to $211,000, board members said.
Where swimmers practice
Until the roof over the pool is repaired members of the aquatic club, an unsanctioned swim team made up of Hubbard pupils, are forced to practice at Fowler High School, about 15 miles away.
Ludig, along with other parents of aquatic club members, expressed concern over the way the board seemed to react more supportively toward building a wrestling facility than they had toward repairing the swimming pool.
Herrholtz, who has taken the top post in Madison schools, responded by asking that everyone stick together.
"Bottom line, folks: There are a lot of things need done," Herrholtz said. "It may take some time, it may take some fund raising, but I think anything is possible."