The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AS anticipated, the renovations to the AF Adderley Gym won’t be completed by the end of the year. But looking at the repairs already done, principal Theophilus Claridge expects that it will be ready for the start of the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic in February.

At a floor breaking ceremony last month, Van Johnson said his Land Sand International Development Company had been given a contract to complete the resurfacing of the floor at the gym within five weeks. But with the additional work needed to be done to the bleachers and the painting of the wall, the time frame has been pushed back.

On inspection of the gym yesterday, the platform for the new floor was completed and while workmen were on a break, Claridge said he is confident that the necessary work will be done in time.

“So far, we have the sub floor down and they started work on the bleachers,” Claridge said. “Before they put the final floor down, they have to paint the walls and push the bleachers back and attach them to the wall and make any final repairs to them before they put the final floor down. I’m looking at possibly the middle of January or the end of January before they are fully finished with everything.”

Claridge said that even though they had anticipated that the repairs would have been completed by the end of the year, they still envision playing on the new floor by the time the Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic for senior boys tips off in February. The tournament is the major fund raiser for the school.

“Hugh Campbell is realistic. We’re counting on that. From all indications, the contractor said they should be finished well before then,” he said. “Lighting contractors have been in and they have started to look at whatever repairs they need to make to the lights so that they can be up to standard before the tournament starts.”

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, headed by Minister Jerome Fritzgerald, has allocated some $120,000 for the new floor. The estimate for the full extent of the work being done has not been released.

“This is pride for our school. We have some parents who returned here and they remembered the gym,” Claridge said. “So for them as old scholars, it’s a matter of pride. It’s also a fact that we have a safe gym that we can use. We were restricted in what we could do in the old gym because of the holes in the floor.

“But with this now, we know that we have a gym that we can use and the only thing we will be asking for is some donations so that we can get an air conditioned or cooling system in here to keep it cool. But we’re getting the main part of the gym finished first because it is a pride thing for the school.”

Having just won the Government Secondary Schools Sports Associations’ softball championship and the best banner, best music, best performance and best overall school division of the junior high segment of junior junkanoo, Claridge said they would like to have some place that they can hold their celebrations when the students return to school in 2013.