Flagler Gymnasium renovation completed

ST. AUGUSTINE – Flagler Gymnasium has been closed since the completion of the basketball seasons at the end of February. The bleachers, which were warped over time and unstable in areas, were replaced and the floor was torn out and a new one is in place for the many who use the gym.

The maple floor, installed in 1998, needed to be replaced after floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew damaged the under surface which affected parts of the court in fall of 2016.

Flagler's Director of Athletics Operations and Facilities Cade Smith researched many different vendors to take on the project of replacing the floor. He settled on Connor Sports out of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, who are the official court of FIBA and the NCAA, to manufacture the new floor. Trident Surfacing, Inc., located in Miami, Florida, installed the new court as well as removing the previous court.

"The old floor that we had was an inch and a quarter maple, and that was on top of the original tartan polyurethane floor, which made the floor really stiff," said Smith. "This new floor has a lot of vibration dampening which provides a lot more give in the floor, and that's better for the overall health of our athletes."

The design on the floor is different from the previous version. The older floor had a red border around the court. The new court will feature a black border with Flagler printed on the sides. The logo in the center of the court is the block "FC" with the C falling to the bottom right of the F, which takes place of the primary Flagler athletics logo that had been at center court since 2010. Imprinted in front of the Saints bench is "The Clark Family Court," which was unveiled before the game on Feb. 18, 2017. That was former head coach Bo Clark's next to last game at Flagler Gym and was placed their in recognition of his 31 years of coaching at Flagler.

Along with the floor, brand new bleachers were installed. Fans will now be able to easily walk up and down aisles with hand rails to balance. The bleachers are plastic and the middle portion behind the scorer's table will have approximately 100 chair backs for seating that is more comfortable. Steve Ward & Associates out of Nashville, Tennessee fabricated the bleachers. Gym Doors Florida, LLC out of Apopka did the removal of the old bleachers as well as the installation of the new ones.

The bench side bleachers will be able to fully open, unlike the wooden ones that had the top four-to-five rows pulled in to leave enough room at the bottom to let spectators walk to their seats without disrupting people working at the scorer's table. The opposite side bleachers will also be able to be fully extended and fans will no longer have to worry about walking on the court to get to their seats.

Smith went on to mention all of the Flagler coaches who utilize the gym are excited about the new court and are eager to use it. The Flagler camps are already in full swing with the girls basketball camp on Monday (June 11) being the first ones to break in the new court.

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