New sports facility opens at M-A High New sports facility opens at M-A High (October 06, 2004)

** The $5.5 million complex includes a gym and rooms for wrestling, fitness, dance and aerobics.

By Marjorie Mader
Almanac Staff Writer

It's been a long time coming, but Menlo-Atherton High School now has its new athletic complex, complete with a regulation basketball gym, wrestling room, weight/fitness room and dance/aerobics studio.

The $5.5 million, 18,500-square-foot structure -- a utilitarian and handsome building -- was dedicated September 28 at a courtyard ceremony near the original 1950s gym and a recently built aquatics center off Ringwood Avenue.

Bond funds approved by voters financed the new building.

After short speeches and a ribbon cutting, the overhead doors to the main gym were rolled up so those attending could step inside and tour the facility.

"It's a dream come true," said an ecstatic Pam Wimberly, M-A's athletic director, head of the physical education department and girls basketball coach. When she arrived at M-A as a P.E. teacher 37 years ago, she said, people were talking about the need for a new gym and sports facilities.

The impetus for the project came from parent boosters, said former M-A Principal Eric Hartwig.

"My career in school construction didn't start until I came to M-A 10 years ago," he said at the dedication. "We brainstormed, spent a year master planning. It was an enormous amount of work."

New M-A Principal Norman Estrada said the new facility will be a "focus for campus and community pride."

"There will be more indoor space during inclement weather," he said, "and there won't be any more 6 a.m. practice for our basketball teams."

Essentially, the new building, with a stucco and masonry exterior, is fairly simple. It is a series of connected boxes that creatively combine function with contemporary design, said Kent Brown, the district's manager for the project.

There are four major areas:

** The full-size basketball gym in the main section of the building has five overhead industrial doors that roll up like garage doors for indoor-outdoor access. The floor also is striped for volleyball and badminton. Scoreboards at each side of the gym are designed for scoring of all sports. Bleachers provide limited seating for wrestling matches and volleyball tournaments. There's a vaulted roof. The older gym will continue to be used for basketball games.

** A wrestling room with two team rooms, lockers and storage, is located at the front of the building near the parking lot.

** A weight/fitness room.

** A dance studio/aerobics room, accessible from the gym.

Construction of the facility started about 18 months ago. DES Architects and Engineers of Redwood City designed the building to match the form and color of the nearby new library that the firm also designed.

Coastside Associates of Half Moon Bay built the sports complex as well as the new library.

E-mail Marjorie Mader at mmader@AlmanacNews.com

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