During game play in the spring, sophomore Holland Snell dribbles the ball up the field in Ranger Stadium. Boys and girls soccer practice and play at Ranger Stadium, but their locker rooms are in the main building.
Proposition C: Spring sports have fieldhouse dreams
New facilities could include locker rooms for soccer, lacrosse, wrestling.
When senior soccer player Marly Digman leaves morning practice to prepare for second period, she trudges up the hill to the spring sports locker room she shares with athletes from wrestling, cross country and tennis.
Down the hall in the boys’ locker room, aquatics, wrestlers, cross country runners and tennis and soccer players share space.
“I think women’s and men’s soccer and track should have a locker room down by the field because that is where we practice, unlike other sports who practice in the school,” Digman said. “Why do basketball and volleyball get their own locker room and other sports don’t?”
Proposition C of the 2021 Comal ISD Bond includes funding for a new fieldhouse on campus, including new locker rooms for soccer, wrestling and lacrosse. Bond Election day is Nov. 2, but early voting is under way until Friday.
About $61.4 million of Bond 2021 will fund items related to athletic facilities in Comal ISD, including a new field house as well as upgrades for baseball lighting, dugout replacement and a golf practice facility at SVHS.
Wrestling coach Tim Clarkson can attest to the need for more locker room space.
“Like every sport, locker space is challenging right now,” Clarkson said. :The spring sports locker area, I mean, we’re just, we’re packed in, there’s not enough locker space for the kids.”
However, some local taxpayers are not pleased with the amount of funds directed toward the athletic programs.
“I played sports in high school, but never was it given so much money and attention,” Spring Branch resident Charley M. said. “Have you seen the SVHS stadium? The Dallas Cowboys would be happy to play there!”
The girls spring sports locker room accommodates four sports; wrestling, cross country, tennis and soccer. Girls aquatics has its own – albeit small – locker room, leaving boys aquatics with wrestling, cross country, tennis and soccer in the boys spring sports locker room.
This year, athletes complained about the cleanliness of the spring sports locker rooms: moldy shower curtains, broken showers, toilets and lack of paper towels. Administration addressed these concerns by removing old curtains and cleaning the locker room.
Volleyball and basketball have their own respective locker rooms in the athletic hallway near the gym, and football has their facilities in the fieldhouse by the stadium.
Although the soccer team rarely uses the gym and holds most of its practices on the field, their locker room is also located up the hill in the main building.
“(The new locker room) will allow for quicker transition between class and practice,” said Alex Franz, a senior on the boys soccer team, “and a locker room closer to the field could allow us to use the locker room during halftime of a game or before a game.”