Colleges getting much-needed makeover

The renovations, Piergossi said, show just how much the school is committed to athletics.

"I think the renovations show how much athletics is important to the college," he said. "We demand a lot of our athletes and students so it is nice to provide for them a first-class facility."

After the year-long renovation, all teams will have their own locker rooms, a new score board, a concession stand and a rest room will be built in the gym. The football and softball fields will be converted to synthetic turf soccer fields. The accessibility to all fields will also be upgraded.

"We are putting in a new soccer field and track, there will be field turf on the track and a new baseball field," said Andreas Wolf, Skyline's athletic director. "We will be redoing the tennis courts and the track will be resurfaced."

Aside from the rebuilding of the physical education building, basketball court and athletic fields, the entire school is going through a renovation. Several of the buildings will go through a seismic retrofit and a new student union building and science department wing are being built.

Renovations a

long time coming

Skyline is not the only school upgrading its athletic facilities. All three schools in the San Mateo County Community College District - Cañada, College of San Mateo and Skyline - are undergoing massive renovations to make up for years of neglect. Improvements to campus buildings come courtesy of $207 million bond initiative Measure C, passed by voters in 2001. The one stipulation of Measure C was that none of the funds could be used for the athletic facilities.

But the district already been prepared for that. The community college district signed contracts 15 years ago with nine cities and 16 different redevelopment agencies to pony up money to refurbish the athletic facilities at the schools, district spokeswoman Barbara Christensen said. Many of the agreements didn't start generating revenue until about five years ago and construction on the athletic facilities finally began this spring with roughly $18 million being distributed between the three campuses.

"(The improvements) benefit the residents of local cities," Christensen said. "The facilities are used by the public."

CSM finally

begins work

The College of San Mateo has talked about redoing its athletic facilities for years. That dream finally became reality as work began this past spring.

The football and baseball fields will have synthetic turf and the track will be the same surface as the track for the 2004 Olympics, said Gary Dilley, CSM athletic director.

The softball field will also be reconfigured to make it more fan-friendly. Currently the field sits adjacent to the road that loops around the campus with a small bleacher area.

The football field improvements would be ready for the start of the season but construction will continue throughout the year, including new bleachers and a new press box - which will not be ready until 2005, Dilley said.

"We are not too sure how much we will be able to accomplish, because (the school) is scheduled for work toward the end of this entire construction project," said Dilley.

Other CSM improvements include the expansion of the school's weight room facility, repairs to the locker room and a modernization of the gym.

"We will be moving our weight room to another room and we will have our own fitness center," said Dilley. "That will be a really big step for us."

Cañada begins improvements early next year

Cañada will not begin its renovations until next year. Cañada athletic director Mike Garcia said the renovation at the Redwood City campus will be performed in phases.

The soccer field will become synthetic in January of 2005. Colt Field, the baseball field, will be upgraded in the summer of 2005, Garcia said.

State-of-the-art renovations will also help the women's volleyball team at Cañada, which begins its second year in the fall.

"Now, they will be able to play all of their home matches at Cañada," he said.

Construction will cause some inconveniences

All the construction taking place at the schools won't be without inconveniences. The extensive work taking place at Skyline will shut down the Trojans' gym for the year, forcing the school to come up with an alternative plan for teams that use it.

All of the teams that use the gym - men's basketball, women's volleyball, badminton and wrestling - will have their practices and games moved to the College of San Mateo gym.

"All of our games, we will have to travel to," said Piergrossi. "The daily grind of having to travel everyday of the season just to get to practice will be difficult. But in the end, one year of adversity is worth it for the long-term benefits of having an upgraded facility."

The move to CSM is very do-able for the next year, but there might be some inconveniences, Dilley said.

"We will modify schedules to make room for them," said Dilley. "I don't think it will be a hardship, but we will have to change some class and game schedules. We do this already for our women's basketball team."

Piergrossi expects his team to have a challenging year with all of the road games and constant travel, but feels the improvements will help him get local kids to go to the school.

"I think this makes Skyline a more attractive place for athletes. They will take more pride in the facilities once they are completed," Piergrossi said. "Members of the P.E. department will be more excited to train everyday."

Daily Journal Sports Editor Nathan Mollat contributed to this story.