By Tamas Mondovics
The idea to build an athletic field house in order to accommodate students participating in all outdoor sports at Newsome High isn’t new. In fact, according to parents, coaches and student-athletes, it’s way overdue.
“The idea to build a field house and the discussion of what it would take to be able to make it a reality actually began years ago,” said Newsome High School football head coach, Kenneth Hiscock.
When it is done, school officials hope to see an 8,000 sq. ft. building to be used by both boys and girls sports, which will include locker rooms, showers, a training room, film rooms, training and weight rooms and coaches offices for all outside sports. Hiscock said the project will approximately cost $480,000, and must be available before the project can begin.
Currently the school is looking at a variety of possibilities for the location of the new building, including one covering the school’s outdoor basketball court since it already has a concrete floor.
“We are thinking about utilizing the court in order to save on some of the construction costs,” Hiscock said. “Just pouring the concrete floor for the field house will cost close to $90,000 so it is something to think about.” The second possibility is to build the new field house on the north east side of the football field, between the bleachers and the concession stand.
“Many area schools and nationally recognized athletic schools have field houses,” said Newsome parent, Krista Behrens. “A new field house will benefit all future athletes for years to come at our school as it brings a much higher sense of pride and unity to a program. Those are important characteristics to have when playing team sports.”
Hiscock agreed, mentioning that coaches and students are now hard at work to raise funds for the project, 50 percent of which is promised to be matched by Hillsborough County. “So far we have around $25,000 raised and we have a long way to go, but with diligent effort and the support of the community, Newsome will have its new field house in a few years. Continuing the efforts to raise funds on behalf of the project, the Newsome football program is hosting its First Annual Football Golf Tourney, scheduled for Saturday November 16. Shotgun Start is 12:30 p.m. at the Summerfield Crossings Golf Club, located at 13050 Summerfield Blvd. in Riverview. All proceeds go towards building a Field House for Newsome High School Athletics and are tax deductible. For more information, contact John or Krista Behrens at johnandkristabehrens@yahoo.com, or visit www.newsomefootball.com.
