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MHS Gym unusable, school leagues halted
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Posted on Sep 24 2019
An Agape Christian School player receives a serve from Saipan International School 2 during their game in the PSS Interscholastic Girls High School Volleyball League last Thursday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (Kimberly A. Bautista)
The Marianas High School Gymnasium has been ruled unsafe to host games, prompting the postponement of interscholastic activities this school year until repairs are made.
According to Public School System’s Student Support Services athletic program director Nick Gross, upon inspection last weekend, they found out that the facility sustained additional damage on top of the ones caused by Super Typhoon Yutu last year, making the facility unsafe for after-school sports programs.
“The MHS Gym has sustained additional damage associated with the lingering effects of storm damage to the point that for the safety of our kids, we are postponing play for a week. We are mobilizing immediately to mitigate any additional issues and render the gym safe for play so that we can resume after school activities as quickly as possible,” Gross said.
He explained that they discovered the damaged gypsum boards that could fall and hurt anyone within the parameter, so they decided to close down the facility until repairs are made.
“Some of the gypsum boards that have been damaged by moisture fell into the open bleachers. Upon further investigation, we notice that there are additional gypsum boards that could potentially fall as well. The safety of all using the gymnasium is of the utmost importance, therefore I have no choice but to postpone gym activities,” Gross said.
The athletic program director added that PSS is working on immediately building appropriate scaffolding and mitigating any additional issues by removing as much of the existing gypsum as possible.
“We hope to have the gym safe enough to resume activities next week,” Gross said.
The interscholastic girls high school volleyball just kicked off last Sept. 17 and had its second playing date last Thursday before the postponement. Today’s matches are on hold and will be rescheduled on a later date.
In addition, games in the PSS Interscholastic Girls Middle School Basketball League are also postponed. The basketball tournament was slated to open last Wednesday, but Gross is hopeful that they can finally start the competition by next week.
