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New locker room
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .The girls of the Boardman Lady Spartans gathered on Jan. 27 to use their new space for a type of team bonding: Studying for finals and trying not to get too stressed.
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The Lady Spartans basketball team smiled in their new locker room, which includes a trophy case (behind the team), an LCD projector, dry erase paint, and personalized lockers for each teammate.
By SARAH FOOR
Before Jan. 27, the Lady Spartans volleyball and basketball teams didn’t have a permanent place to hang their hats.
“We shared a space with every other girls’ sport and junior varsity boys’ sport in our school. We had one side of the locker room and one row of lockers,” explained senior basketball player Brooke Meenachan. “We were thankful for what we had, but we always thought it would be nice to have our own space.”
With the help of basketball head coach Ron Moschella, and under the leadership of team dad Jack Kucgek, the Lady Spartans now have an impressive new space built completely with donated funds and supplies.
“It has definitely been a real community effort,” said Moschella. “Our booster organizations donated thousands of dollars to the cause, and our principal Tim Saxton donated an LCD projector to the room that he helped install. This would not be possible without so many people coming together to support our Lady Spartans.”
The Lady Spartans basketball team gathered Jan. 27 to study for finals together in their new space.
“It still smells like new wood and glue in here, which is great. It’s not like our sweaty team after a game quite yet,” said Meenachen.
The new locker room includes wooden hooks and nameplates for each player, a new trophy case, refrigerator, LCD projector to watch film, and features dry erase paint on the walls that the coaches will use to discuss plays.
Kucgek was the driving force behind the revamped room and donated the time of his contracting company to the project. “The girls have their own space now, and they deserve it. They should have had it years ago,” he shared.
Although the new room only services the Lady Spartans basketball and volleyball teams for now, Moschella hopes to see the locker rooms of more Boardman sports teams get revamped in the future.