New facilities would meet the most important role of athletics
CAPTION: Marble Falls Independent School District athletic director Keri Timmerman describes a typical practice day at the high school and how coaches work together to meet the needs of their athletes. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The possibilities of building new facilities for extracurricular activities at Marble Falls High School will better meet the No. 1 objective for those students – to properly prepare them for their seasons.
That’s according to Marble Falls Independent School District athletic director Keri Timmerman.
Presently, the high school athletic department has about 355 athletes, while 225 boys and 205 girls in grades 7 and 8 are in athletics, Timmerman said.
The current high school weight room, which is around 2,500 square feet, has been on campus almost since the high school spring semester of 1989. For about two decades, little had changed inside it. Giant fans cooled it when it was warm or hot and many people in the athletic department believed the same weights used by athletes who graduated in the 1990s were still being used in the 2000s.
But all of that changed in 2012. That January Todd Dodge, who will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco Feb. 15, was hired as the school district’s athletic director and football head coach. He made it a point to get the department a new weight room. Quickly after that the weight room was gutted out. By the end of the spring semester that year, old weights and weight racks had been replaced with brand new equipment. Rack stations specifically designed for the space lined the outer walls and in the middle of the floor complete with special carpet that can take the pounding a weight room and a heating and cooling system. Everything in that weight room was all about Marble Falls athletes.
In the years since the upgrade, the facility has gotten more and more use because weight lifting is one way to help prevent injuries. Marble Falls ISD is one of the few school districts that has a strength and conditioning coordinator, who works closely with each head coach to create a program that meets the needs of that particular sport.
“I can fit comfortably 65 to 75 (athletes) all at once,” said Timmerman, who also is the football head coach. “When we run our offseason sessions and boys basketball offseason, there’s between 95 to 100.”
That forces coaches to divide the athletes into distinct groups with some working on agility and conditioning usually at Mustang Stadium, while the others lift weights. After the athletes get that work completed, they switch venues.
To help address lifting needs, the department did away with the only garage in the weight room building and turned it into another weight room. Officials also created a smaller weight room in a vacant room that’s part of the original field house.
But because it was a garage, there isn’t a heater or air conditioner in it.
“So if its 40 degrees outside, it’s 40 degrees in there,” Timmerman said.
But still, it equals “42 minutes of work to get them all through the majority of their lifts,” the athletic director said.
And that’s just two sports. When going through the number of athletes who have the same athletic period, as many as 110 may need to get in the weight room. The reason for the same athletic period is because some play the same sports (boys and girls soccer) or one athletic period allows the same athlete to go from one sport to the next (girls athletic period).
But the proposed multipurpose indoor facility, which is part of a bond package the Marble Falls ISD school board voted to present to voters this spring, would have a weight room attached to it that’ll be 6,500 square feet with new weights and a heating and cooling system.
“It would almost double the current size,” Timmerman said.
The multipurpose indoor facility also would have a 70-yard artificial turf that includes an end zone, three track lanes, restrooms, storage and a gymnasium. The field will have the 50-yard line clearly marked for the benefit of the band and Starlettes dance team. That’s part of the preparation for their performances.
It would include drop down netting to create hitting and pitching cages, bases and a mound and circle for softball and baseball, netting and field lines for soccer
The athletic director said that when he worked at other school districts, the bands, cheerleaders and dance squads used the multipurpose indoor facility more than their football teams as they practiced for marching season and their half-time shows.
The gym will have flooring that’s very similar to what is found on the Marble Falls ISD elementary schools’ gymnasiums, the athletic director said.
Timmerman said the weight room and gym will have a heating and cooling system, while the room that has the field turf will have heating and large fans to cool it.
“You open it up, and it pulls cool air through it,” he said, adding not have a heating and cooling system for the other two rooms “can cause problems.”
That’s because extreme cold and extreme heat can limit the longevity of the gym floor.
When bad weather happens, the new multipurpose indoor facility would be used so teams can continue their normal preparations for a game and a season, Timmerman said. Right now, if the weather is bad, coaches either have to go indoors or cancel practice.
“That adds up in the lifespan of a kid,” he said. “You miss four or five practices when you only get 50 or 60. That’s 24 practices over four years.”
Marble Falls’ neighbors — Burnet, Lago Vista and Llano — all have indoor facilities. Burnet’s had its multipurpose facility for about a year, while Lago Vista opened theirs at the beginning of this school year.
And at the busiest time of the spring semester, Marble Falls High School could have at least 200 athletes “at bare minimum” all working out at the same time at various parts of the campus at their own ball parks, the athletic director said.
“That’s in-season sports, not counting football and golf,” he said.
So if there’s a thunderstorm, a multipurpose indoor facility gives the department something it currently doesn’t have.
“It allows us to be fluid,” Timmerman said. “You don’t have that log jam.”
Coaches would talk about what they planned for practice during that time. Some may go to the turf for hitting and pitching if it’s for baseball and softball, while others may go to the other end for soccer drills. Runners may head to the lanes to work on sport-specific movements including starts, strides and footwork. Drop-down nets will be used to create separate spaces for each sport and ensure safety of everyone inside.
And depending on the number of athletes at the practice, some may head to the weight room.
Some coaches may decide to call for a morning practice instead. Timmerman noted this size of multipurpose facility isn’t large enough to allow for hundreds of athletes in there at once. But the ability to choose, to ensure players are getting the preparation they need so they can perform at their best is simply invaluable.
“You’re still getting into priorities,” he said. “When I worked at (Grapevine) Colleyville, I can’t think of a day when that wasn’t used by a group or someone.”
On beautiful spring days, those sports would be at their outdoor facilities. But football players may go to the indoor facility to work on sport specific drills.
“If we can be outside, we’ll be outside cause we play outside,” Timmerman said.
The athletic director said the new weight room would be an addition. The current weight room would still be used.
“It allows us to be able to do those things simultaneously,” he said. “Most schools have two weight rooms.”
When people have asked if they can use the current weight room, Timmerman says no because “it’s the only space we have.”
The athletics projects, which includes turning the current PE gym into a new band hall and the current band hall into a home for the Starlettes and cheerleaders, totals $12.515. The indoor multipurpose facility totals $26.05 million.
