Ponderosa unveils a gem of a gym

NEW GYMNASIUM–Assistant Principal, Darrin Slojkowski shows Jerry Heinzer, Sports Writer for the Mountain Democrat the newly completed Gym renovation at Ponderosa High School. Democrat photo by Shelly Thorene

SHINGLE SPRINGS — It's got curb appeal, grandiosity and loads of amenities. It's also centrally located — smack in the middle of the school's campus. Yes, Ponderosa High's newly reconfigured gym is the jewel of the Delta River League.

Thanks to Measure Q, the bond measure passed by voters in 2008, the funding was also available. Improvements were implemented in two phases — the first was the Bruins' new synthetic turf football field and accompanying track that debuted in 2009.

This summer and fall the gym was remodeled and work was also done to the school's wrestling room, weight room and theater. The work was completed just in time for the completely renovated gym to shine with boys and girls basketball and wrestling seasons underway.

Construction began immediately when school let out last summer and was finished just in time for the Lady Bruins to host El Dorado and christen their new gym with a victory over their arch rivals. Ponderosa's volleyball teams played their fall season at Oak Ridge.

"Given all the things that can happen in a construction project with delays and everything, you hope for the best and it (finish date) was pretty accurate," Bruin Assistant Principal Darrin Slojkowski said. "Considering that people were working on top of one another, everything came together really well."

With prior experience developing high school gymnasiums, Slojkowski served as Ponderosa's site liaison with Carter Kelly Inc., the contractor he credits for "pulling it together," and California Design West, the architect. Slojkowski also worked closely with El Dorado Union High School District Facilities director Patty McClellan whose department oversees new school construction, existing school and district project modernization/renovation and facilities master planning.

There are numerous differences between the old gym and the new-look one — the biggest is the basketball court, whose baselines originally were on the north and south ends of the gym but now are east to west. To accommodate the change, the west wall was torn down and 3,000 additional square feet were added.

Gone is the gym's old feel — Mr. Loken of the math department calling games from the sixth row of the bleachers, the small, cramped scorer's table occupying the first row of seats, the leaky roof and the make-due utility-table snack bar tucked in the corner. Now, the atmosphere is state-of-the-art and Mr. Loken, the scorekeeper and the Mountain Democrat have cushy seats at the soon-to-arrive new scorer/press table.

Fans arrive through three sets of double doors that lead into a spacious foyer with restrooms, a trophy case and built-in snack bar. In case visitors are unclear where they are, the foyer has a large paw print embedded in the glossy concrete floor, the Bruin logo. If the hunger or thirst bug bites, those dashing to the snack bar won't miss any of the action thanks to a soon-to-be installed flat screen TV mounted to the wall compliments of boys basketball coach Andy Beal.

Also inside of the gym is another new scoreboard and a logo for the wall. Bruin Athletic Director Tyson Escobar will handle re-displaying the banners past Ponderosa teams have won.

Except for some renovation to the entrance to the girls locker room, both locker rooms were left intact.

Walking into the gym, one notices the facility's size and glistening new high-quality laminated maple hardwood floor. The seating capacity in the beautiful pine bleachers was increased from 800 to nearly 1,300. Like Union Mine's Snake Pit, there's end-zone seating but Ponderosa's gym has seating at both ends of the court.

The gym is completely equipped to accommodate handicap access. Storage along the east and west walls has increased tenfold. The lighting is improved along with the acoustics thanks to a new wireless sound system. There's also a brand new air-conditioning system and a "mechanical mezzanine" from which games can be video taped.

The floor itself not only has lines for the main basketball and volleyball courts but also for three regulation volleyball and two full-size basketball courts that criss cross the gym. Additionally, lines are in place for badminton. The wrestling mats are stored out of the way near the ceiling and will drop down mechanically for meets along with the hookup for the main light.

The Bruin coaches, Ponderosa's physical education teachers and others in the administration all had input to ensure the gym met all the school's needs from athletics to P.E. classes to rallies to dances and any other functions.

"Everyone had an opportunity to be involved with the project and the coordination was phenomenal," Slojkowski said. "From what we had it's quite a leap for the school."

Jerry Heinzer

Jerry Heinzer is going on 12 years as an employee of the Mountain Democrat and is currently the Sports Editor. Contact Jerry at 530-344-5074 or jheinzer@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @ JHeinzerMtDemo on Twitter.

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