New gym at Potter Junior High a hit with kids, adults

By: TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer | Sunday, January 13, 2008 9:48 PM PST ∞

FALLBROOK ---- Educators unveiled a new $7.9 million gymnasium at Potter Junior High School on Friday, heralding the 14,000-square-foot building as the first indoor sports facility at Fallbrook's only middle school.

Located between the auditorium and sports fields, the gym is an imposing structure on the 30-year-old campus of low brick classrooms off Reche Road.

The gym also includes 2,000 square feet of space for the Boys & Girls Club of North County, which has previously operated a program for seventh- and eighth-graders at its main facility off Ivy Street.

The state granted $1.5 million in 2006 for the project because the school district included the Boys & Girls Club, thus qualifying the gym as a "joint-use" project.

The rest of the funding came from a $32 million bond measure approved by voters in 2002.

The cavernous gymnasium smelled of lacquer Friday morning as the first few physical education classes filed in to play basketball.

Physical education teacher Mark Adams said the facility will provide indoor recreation space to the approximately 1,100 students at Potter during inclement weather.

"During rainy days, we now have a place to take the kids," Adams said as he monitored a basketball game. "Before, when it rained, we sat in classrooms to watch educational films."

On the court, only about every fifth shot went through the hoop, but the kids seemed to be enjoying the brand-new wooden floor and glass backboards.

They cheered when Adams announced, "You're the first ones to play basketball in the new gym."

For a school where basketball had been played on pavement, even the physical education teacher had to adjust to the luxurious digs.

"This is a really classy facility," Adams said, noting that most junior high gyms "have carpet (floors) and are about half this size."

Abe Oliveras, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club, said he is excited about moving into the dedicated wing where his club will organize homework assistance, music and art activities, and recreation every day after school.

He said that operating a site inside the new Potter gym will make it "a lot easier to attract kids to participate in the program, and improve our ability to reach more kids, because we're right there on the school site."

"We're also going to have access to the gymnasium," he said. "It's a big plus, and we're really excited about it."

A public grand opening is scheduled for Feb. 7 at 3 p.m.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.

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