MOUNTAIN LAKES The school board authorized the Lakers Sports Association to pursue planning and fundraising to expand and refurbish the Mountain Lakes High School weight room, which Head Football Coach Darrell Fusco called extremely dangerous," at a cost of $200,000 to $300,000.
Fusco told the school board on Monday night that things have changed in student athletics since the weight room was constructed. He said more athletes in more sports weight train now and the roughly 1,200-square-foot room off the back of the high school is difficult and dangerous for athletes to use.
Its cramped, he said. There are major problems from weight benches that are not covered properly to a couple of good pieces of equipment that are in need of repair.
He said the proposal is to redo the room by knocking out the back wall of the high school facing the baseball field that would result in the loss of three parking spaces, but would allow for doubling the size of the room to roughly 2,400 square feet. This would allow equipment to be more safely spaced out and for new items that have been donated in recent years, such as kettle bells, to be used properly.
The plan also is to do repairs on some of the pieces of equipment that do not work and to refurbish and add equipment, too.
We had the field hockey team try to go in there to do circuits and they couldnt, Fusco said, between the lack of space and the lack of properly working equipment.
The idea to do the weight room project, Fusco explained, was developed when he, Buildings & Grounds Supervisor Mark Prusina and Business Administrator/Board Secretary Dan Borgo toured the high school with the goal of coming up with an improvement that would be beneficial to many students.
What we would do down the road is add an educational component, said Fusco. We could bring in students from Briarcliff. We could have students come in as freshmen and be given a (personalized fitness) plan.
He said that while weight training is not a big part of the physical education program now, with a better equipped room, it could become one.
Fusco said the Laker Sports Association and parents who support school programs also felt the proposal was manageable in terms of fundraising and would be a maximum benefit to students.
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Mountain Lakes High School weight room makeover proposed; Laker Sports to fundraise
