Gilmer County athletes had a little more space to work with when summer conditioning began Monday.
The former Gilmer High School Marching Band equipment room at the Larry Walker Education Center was renovated and converted into a weight room.
During the summer months, the weight room will be used by GHS and Clear Creek Middle School athletes. Once the school year rolls around, it will be used daily by GHS.
It offers much more space than the long narrow weight rooms located at the GHS gym.
“The main advantage is from a safety standpoint,” said strength and conditioning coach Adam Wharton. “Now we have room to spread out, and kids aren’t piled on top of each other while bars are moving. They now have a chance to get out of the way. The same goes for when we get past our core lifts and get into some auxiliary stuff ... they now have the chance to spread out.
“That was the main thing when this project got started. The No. 1 issue was safety.”
The project was funded by the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST). The cost-to-date is $50,401.82, according to May’s ESPLOST expenditures report. GHS athletic director Matt Johnson noted there is still some painting that needs to be completed in the coming weeks.
The room was outfitted with half racks that can accommodate six athletes at a time, as well as plate-loaded neck machines, ham-glute developers and dozens of dumbbells.
While June workouts are limited to 20 people — including both athletes and coaches per GHSA COVID-19 guidelines — Wharton believes the new weight room can accommodate more once workouts can take place under normal conditions.
“I think you can work out with about 60 kids and it would probably start to get tight at that point,” Wharton said. “If you have around 48 kids, that gives you four to a group at 12 stations, and we should still have plenty of room.”
Prior to the completion of the new weight room, all Gilmer High athletes worked out at the GHS gym. There were separate weight rooms for boys and girls, which were located underneath the main entrance and concession stand, respectively.
The girls weight room will now take up the area previously occupied by the boys, and the girls old weight room was converted into a training room. All weight equipment no longer used at GHS was relocated to CCMS.
“I think the athletes will be more excited and focused just by having a new space more than anything,” Wharton said. “A lot of times when you upgrade facilities it creates a buzz amongst the athletes.”
During June’s restrictive workouts, GHS and CCMS football will make use of the new weight room because of the number of athletes and available space.
Remaining CCMS sports will condition on its campus. Gilmer High wrestling, basketball and cheer will make use of the GHS baseball field, gym and band field.