Running volleyball drills in late August, freshman Brynn Stapleton stumbled over a bump in the wood of the Lucco-Jackson Gym floor. Several long, thin bubbles, nearly unnoticeable unless felt underfoot, had risen in the shiny panels near the 3-point line and under the basket, creating trip hazards just outside the volleyball court. 

“We were doing run-throughs, and I ran over it and tripped,” Stapleton said. “I knew it wasn’t good.”

Stapleton was uninjured, but the bubbles heightened concerns among the girls volleyball staff. A week earlier, according to varsity head coach Heather Ohlau, they had called administrators and maintenance to the gym during practice to inspect a different floor issue. 

The circular cutouts that expose the volleyball standards – underground pipes that uphold the net poles – had shifted away from the center of the gym, covering the opening of the pipes slightly. 

“We put sleeves in the floors so our poles are able to stay stabilized, and we weren’t able to get them out,” coach Ohlau said. “We had to have maintenance come and get them out, so then we noticed that there was a little bit of shifting in the floor.”

The Lucco-Jackson Gym floor has a water problem, spanning at least from the bubbles on the D-wing side to the off-kilter standards along halfcourt. Students may have seen the industrial dehumidifiers pulling water out of the floor for days earlier this week, or noticed that all practices, games and P.E. classes are relocated indefinitely.

“If you have water underneath the floor, the floor will buckle,” athletic director Amy Boscolo said. “It’ll swell up. That’s what we’re dealing with, are the swells.”

The athletic department is unsure if indoor sports will be able to practice and play in the gym for the rest of the school year, according to Ms. Boscolo. Administration recently outsourced a company to look under the floor for the root of the leak.

“[District 7] has a camera, so they came in and they ran the camera,” Ms. Boscolo said. “That gave us an idea: There’s a water issue. But it didn’t give us the full picture. We brought in an outside company that has a much larger camera.”

Ms. Boscolo said it’s still unclear where the water is coming from. She and administration have deepened the search, allowing the company to remove parts of the walls and floor under the bleachers.

“Whether it’s rain, whether it’s a leaking pipe – we at least know it’s water,” Ms. Boscolo said.

And while the buckles can be covered with decorations for events like the homecoming dance, which Ms. Boscolo confirmed will take place in Lucco-Jackson, the athletic department has had to move all girls volleyball and girls and boys basketball games to the middle schools due to liability risks and safety concerns.

“With volleyball, we’re running and not really watching the floor,” coach Ohlau said. “We just want to make sure that the surface is level because when we do running and drills and diving, it could impact the knees, the hips.”

All girls volleyball games now take place at Liberty Middle School. For the athletic department, this meant making sure middle and high school games wouldn’t happen on the same day and rearranging home and away games if they did. Game time had to shift from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. to allow for middle school practices.

Senior Zuri Walker said the team speculated that something was wrong in the early stages of the buckling, but it “didn’t seem real” until the coaches told them Lucco-Jackson was off-limits.

“It’s kind of sad because we don’t get to play on our home court, and we don’t get the full experience of having our poster up in the high school gym because we’re finally seniors,” Walker said.

For coach Ohlau, the switch has been a “push.” But girls volleyball travels often, so she encourages her players to think of Liberty as just another new gym to play in.

“Obviously, I felt disappointed for our girls, especially our seniors, because it’s our home court, and they don’t get to experience their final season as a volleyball player on their home court,” she said. “But as coaches, we keep a positive outlook. We’re going to deal with adversity.”

Senior Lucy Goebel said playing at Liberty “isn’t that bad” because its smaller gym size is better suited to volleyball crowds.

“For volleyball, not as many people come,” Goebel said. “And when we’re at Liberty, the stands are filled and it’s loud, which is kind of hype.”

She said she doesn’t like having her senior banner hung up for a bunch of middle schoolers, “but at least it’s hung up somewhere.”

The basketball schedules are not yet formally reorganized like girls volleyball, but Ms. Boscolo said playing the winter season in Lucco-Jackson is unsafe. The buckling panels in the floor are also dead spots – where basketballs will lose their momentum and ability to bounce when dribbling. 

Senior Bryce Pryor “doesn’t like the idea of playing in middle school gyms” during his last season.

“It’s a different environment at the high school,” Pryor said. “[EHS is] more electric. You know the court. It’s our home court. There’s a lot of things that go into play, but I’m just a little upset about where the season has to be played.”

Sophomore Sophie Shapiro said the switch will hurt her team’s crowd sizes.

“Since the games aren’t at the high school, I feel like less people [will] come,” Shapiro said.

Right now, boys basketball head coach Dustin Battas works daily to find “pockets of gym space” to hold off-season conditioning.

“It’s certainly an inconvenience and can be a great challenge, but [we’ve] still got to find a way to get our guys in shape before the season starts,” he said.

He’s hoping student role models will mitigate negativity when the season kicks off.

“There’ll be some frustrations, and there’ll be some things to work out,” coach Battas said. “That’s where leadership comes in, starting with me and then hopefully our seniors will kind of lead the way of being enthusiastic about having the opportunity to play wherever they let us play.”

For the broadcasting crew, who livestream volleyball and basketball games, moving events to the middle schools means losing equipment space and viewership numbers.

“The layout of Liberty is not conducive to streaming sporting events, so we haven’t been able to stream any of the girls volleyball games so far, including a tournament,” senior Ryan McNabnay said. “The space available to set up at Liberty isn’t enough, and there is a very limited number of outlets for power and ethernet.”

McNabnay, the designated volleyball streamer and a boys volleyball player himself, said it’s “highly likely” that streaming basketball will be off the table later this semester if the floor is not repaired soon. In that case, he said broadcasting will probably focus on outdoor sports.

Broadcasting president senior Justin Dial said boys basketball streams drew record viewership numbers last year, when 1,100 people tuned in to the regional finals.

“It is also a time where we can easily experiment with new camera equipment or train new members in their roles,” Dial said. “If [the floor] still isn’t fixed, it will trickle into spring sports, shutting down boys volleyball.

More activities that require a functional gym are on the horizon: winter guard, the craft fair and orchestra and band concerts, among others. The dehumidifiers were removed from Lucco-Jackson after school Wednesday, despite not fixing the buckle.

Ms. Boscolo said they “did their job” and “pulled out as much [water] as they can.”

P.E. classes are finding other usable space and rearranging units.

“I think they’re using a little bit more outdoor space because the weather’s good,” Interim Principal Alex Fox said. “If there was a wiffleball unit, for example, they might be doing a wellness or track unit instead.”

As administration looks toward solutions, Ms. Boscolo said it’s critical to remember that she and her team can’t make any panicked decisions. They can’t just “rip it all up,” she said.

“We need to figure out what’s happening first, and then come up with the best plan that will be the least intrusive but also the most cost-effective,” Ms. Boscolo said. “We don’t want to replace a floor if we don’t solve the water problem. We have to figure out the water problem before we can fix the floor.”

According to Fox, extensive construction may be necessary.

“At some point we’re going to have to make a decision whether or not we’re going to have to have larger-scale repairs,” Fox said. “If larger-scale repairs happen, it means that things that normally occur in the gym will not be able to occur in the gym. That’s just going to be based on what the company that’s currently working on it tells us.”

Ms. Boscolo is bracing herself for any outcome. This week, she narrowed down every day on the D7 schedule with a conflict between middle and high school events for the rest of the school year, finding only 10 to reorganize.

“If we have the floor back, awesome,” she said. “If we don’t have the floor back, we’re going to be prepared.”