RIVERHAWKREVIVAL

New

enhance MCHS sports programs

AUSTIN HANSON austin hanson@globegazette com

The future has almost arrived for Mason City High School Constructioncrewsare putting the finishing touches on the Riverhawks’ new natatorium and field house.

The Mason City Community Schools Board authorized the project which came with an estimated price tag of about $26 million, according to the Globe Gazette two years ago Some of the facilities have begun to open up for student-athlete use the most notable of which is the weight room. Boasting almost double the space of Mason City’s old weight room,the new workout center is adorned with Riverhawk wall art and features squat racks, free weights, and numerous machines designed to help athletes perform their best.

The expanded weight room benefits athletes and casual students alike. Mason City now offers a performance physical education course that all students are encouraged to take.

The class gives the Riverhawks a way to get their strength and conditioning work done during the school day for course credit. Mason City head football coach and physical education teacher

Josh Reuter said the class could eliminate morning workouts and improve athletes’ sleep schedules

“Being a P.E. teacher here, it allows us to offer far more opportunities for students,” Reuter said of the new facilities “I currently run a performance physical education class which our athletes are encouraged to take and all students can take. We can run about 250 student-athletes through a strength training program in our brand new weight room. And when the field house is done, we’ll be able to walk them down the hall and use the indoor track for the same class.”

The weight room was furnished by a fundraising campaign called The Future is Now. Spearheaded by community member Phil Johnson, The Future is Now hoped to raise $750,000 to outfit Mason City’s new facilities with state-of-theart equipment. A post on the campaign’s Facebook page from July indicated over $1 million had been donated.

When the natatorium is completed, Mason City aims to offer even more physical-education options to its students. Reuter said the new pool could host a course that allows students to get their lifeguard certification and class credit simultaneously. Students that get certified through Mason City could be hired by the school to watch over the natatorium.

Reuter also suggested kayaking and fishing could be incorporated into the curriculum. Students could start learning inside, then test their new skills on the Winnebago River — which is steps away from the new field house.

The natatorium and field house are connected via a new entry. Lined completely with windows, the entrance will be used for indoor sports and football.

On Friday nights in the fall, fans will be able to park in the lot in front of MCHS and proceed to the football stadium through the new entry.

A fan shop and concession stand will be located within the new entrance. The construction project has more than doubled the size of the concessions area. The entrance will serve as a hub for Mason City athletics, boasting access to the football stadium, gymnasium, field house, and natatorium. The interconnectedness of the field house and main gym may stand to benefit the Riverhawks’ basketball program the most.

Mason City boys basketball head coach Nick Trask used to utilize up to four separate buildings to pull off the Hardee’s Classic — a local youth hoops tournament. Now, Trask can host the event in one space.

“Right now, when we run our big fundraiser youth tournament, the Hardee’s Classic, I literally have four different buildings going,” Trask said. “So, that’s four different concessions, four different supervisors. It’s super difficult to plan that all out. Now, to be able to have the exact same number of courts all underneath one roof — so we have one concession stand and one supervisor — that just makes everything so much nicer.”

Beyond the Hardee’s Classic, Trask said the facility will benefit Mason City’s basketball program from a scheduling perspective. Trask does not currently have access to enough courts to accommodate Mason City’s youth, middle school, junior varsity and travel teams.

The girls’ and boys’ varsity teams split time in the main gym at Mason City. Junior varsity and freshman teams are often pushed to other buildings, forcing athletes to walk through wintry conditions to get to practice.

With the addition of the field house, the Riverhawks will be able to streamline practice sched - ules for their high school, youth and travel teams. Trask can now work with multiple teams a day in the same school.

“We’ve got about 11 travel teams that we manage through our youth system,” Trask said. “And if I could have four of them all practicing at once in the field house, maybe they could even help each other. One team might be better at something than another, and they can join practices for that moment. Or I can come over and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to each one of these four practices and teach a zone offense.’

I mean, how awesome is that?”

The field house will also be equipped with an indoor track when it’s complete. The facility will move Mason City’s runners out of the school’s hallways and main gym and onto an actual competition surface.

The space is also large enough for the tennis, golf, baseball and softball teams to practice in. Many of the Riverhawks’ spring and summer athletes have had limited opportunities to practice during past winters because there weren’t any public spaces for them to do sport-specific drills in.

“It just gives so much training space for all the programs,” Mason City Co-Activities Director Matt Berkley said. “Baseball, softball can get in there and they can bat. You know, they can get in there and do some drills where they (couldn’t) do that during the winter months otherwise.”

Berkley added that the facility could help athletes and families save money because they won’t need to use private spaces to train during the winter months.

Mason City’s natatorium is equipped with a video board, and the school is hoping to install new scoreboards in its main gym and football stadium. The Riverhawks are in the midst of a fundraising effort for the tech, which will cost $350,000. Mason City has already raised $80,000 through partnerships with Coca-Cola and

First Citizens Bank. The new scoreboards will be equipped to run full-length commercials and show live game action. The equipment will also allow the Riverhawks to stream their games via Apple, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

Berkley said the new video screens are necessities as the boards in the football stadium and main gym are dated. The Daktronics football scoreboard is not compatible with new software.

The scoreboards in the main gym are not equipped to handle the IHSAA and IGHSAU’s new shot clocks rules. The displays are not compatible with the Daktronics shot clocks Mason City has positioned above its baskets.

The scoreboards will serve as the final portion of Mason City’s athletic facilities update. Berkley said he hopes the scoreboards will ultimately give the district’s students hands-on opportunities to learn about game broadcasts, crowd interactivity and sports marketing.

Berkley added that Mason City will install new scoreboards in the main gym first because the project is smaller than the one the football stadium requires. The Riverhawks are aiming to have their main gym video screens installed by August.

Counting The Future is Now and scoreboard campaigns, well over $1 million has been donated to update Mason City’s facilities. Reuter said the community’s effort to enhance athlete experiences demonstrates why Mason City is a great sports town.

“It shows the pride the community has in our school,” Reuter said. “To invest this type of money into this type of facility, it shows that they care about our schools. And that helps build pride within students too. When they’re in this facility, they get to use brand new equipment. It shows them, ‘Hey, people care about this, so maybe we should too.’ It just builds pride in Mason City.”