If you rebuild it, they will come: renovating your athletic facilities is a win-win situation.

Schools renovate their athletic facilities for a variety of reasons. For Jack C. Hays High School, the decision to revamp its football stadium was simple: it was literally against the wall.

"When we redid our stadium, we had to change the home side from the west to the east because the gymnasium was so close to the bleachers that we couldn't expand on the west side," says Bob Shelton, longtime head football coach at the Buda, Texas Class 5A school. "What we did was move our home side to the east side where we had room to increase seating to 5,200--an increase of about 1,200 seats."

Overall seating at the stadium--which was originally built in 1969--was increased by 3,000, bringing capacity to around 9,000. The Rebels also added a two-tiered press box on the home side, put in new state-of-the-art lighting, and installed an AstroPlay synthetic field. Renovations were completed in 2001.

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"Everyone raves about our stadium," Shelton says of the project that was paid for with a bond package. "People say we have the best lighting in the state. And we love that playing surface."

From Boston to Bakersfield, high schools are sprucing up football stadiums, baseball fields, and basketball courts at an impressive rate. That's the observation of Tom Oehler, Senior vice president/manager for Dallas-based SHW Sports, a division of SHW Group Architects, an architectural and design firm that specializes in educational facilities.

SHW Sports consults and provides sports-related services for K-12 and private schools and their athletic facilities. Cost estimating, bond planning, programming, and master planning are just a few of the services the company offers its clients.

"Schools are in a unique area because renovations are paid for by public funds," says Oehler. "What we are seeing is a real resurgence in renovations and building of new facilities. I think it's due to both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility standards--many older stadiums were not in compliance--and particularly the new turf systems, which are really opening the door to allow stadiums to become multi-purpose.

"We are seeing school districts reevaluate the facility and how it can support the education of the students. They are realizing there are a lot of opportunities there."

Oehler cited one school district where SHW Sports built a facility that not only houses the football program but also serves as a fine arts facility.

"These facilities are now becoming more than something a school district only uses seven or eight times a year," he says.

Before embarking on a renovation project, there are a number of issues a school should consider. A checklist, if you will.

First, evaluate what you want to do. Formulate a game plan. Then hire a planner that can help with the problematic and planning issues. Also, remember that every facility, particularly when it is built for spectating, has accessibility and handicap issues that are going to be involved and have to be corrected in the renovation process.

Then there's the matter of evaluating the facilities that are presently standing. A majority of the outdoor facilities that were built 20 or 30 years ago were constructed with welded steel that may have been adversely affected by the weather. So make sure the integrity of the system remains and that it can indeed be expanded.

Not every facility can be renovated or expanded. Some schools will encounter site restraints or other issues, that in order to expand--say going from a 6,000-seat stadium to a 10,000-seat stadium--the expansion or modification wouldn't be cost prohibitive.

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"Often times we will find that the renovation of a system, say welded steel bleachers, will cost more than a replacement," Oehler says. "Sometimes you literally have to throw away what's there and start over."

Although SHW Sports works predominantly in Texas, it has renovated and built facilities in Virginia, Maryland, and Michigan--the latter a hotbed for more indoor facilities such as natatoriums.

One trend Oehler and SHW Sports have witnessed in Texas is a proliferation of indoor workout facilities, similar to what Division I college and professional teams practice in during inclement weather. Many schools opt for either a bubble-covered facility or a pre-engineered type building, with air conditioning.

"They are becoming more and more prevalent due to the new synthetic turf systems as well as the heat," says Oehler. "We've seen over the past five years, especially on the pro level, players succumbing and dying from working out in extreme heat. It produces a huge inability for the school system and coaches."

According to Oehler, more and more larger schools are choosing more professionally geared concrete-type football stadiums. School districts are going towards what is commonly referred to as an events-type center, where multiple schools can use them.

Some of the upper-scale stadiums are also installing premium seating. For example, in a 15,000 capacity stadium, 5,000 may have seat backs with the remainder having conventional aluminum seats.

SHW also reports seeing high school stadiums with JumboTron-style and instant replay-type scoreboards, many of which pay for themselves by selling advertising. As for synthetic fields, SHW will bid on five or six surfacing systems per project and make a decision based on the overall cost and what system it believes provides the best overall value.

So when did high schools begin to go the route of the Division I college and pro-style football stadiums? Oehler reports the trend has made a huge push within the last five years.

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"Most of the stadiums we have done are better than most Division II colleges," he says. "People are finding out that this is an event. It supports the academic portion of a child's experience. It's probably every bit as important as the overall learning experience, where a student-athlete learns about teamwork and what it takes to be successful. Also, the stadiums can support both a football game and band competitions.

"We want to provide as many opportunities for the student-athlete as we can provide while having a great spectating environment."

Following are a few specific areas to help better renovate your athletic facilities:

LIGHTING

The main topic of concern is spill light or light trespass. So say Rick Kohl, vice president of sales and marketing for Qualite Sports Lighting.

"Many formerly unlit fields are getting lights in neighborhoods that formally didn't have lights," says Kohl. "That adds another dimension, which is night time play."

To minimize light trespass, Qualite has developed its Gold Series and International Series of sports lighting. The Gold is available in 1,000, 1,500, and 1,650 watts. The International is available in 1,500 and 2,000 watts.

"The benefits of the Gold Series is that you can minimize light trespass without minimizing performance," says Kohl. "The International provides the same thing, and in addition, with higher wattage, you can minimize the number of fixtures. When you minimize the fixtures you control the light more so, because you have less light to control."

Kohl suggests coaches and athletic directors consider how an area or field is going to be used before investing in a lighting system. For instance: Is it dual purpose or soccer only?

If it's dual purpose, then the light poles have to be located differently than they would be for a standard football field, because you have different angles of play.

"Football is played in a north-south direction," Kohl says. "Soccer is also played north-south, but also east and west. For baseball, it's basically a light level for safety. Volume of light, as far as light levels, is not as important as the uniformity of that light. In darkness you can see pretty well with moderate levels of light. So if you're a high school, you don't necessarily have to reach the collegiate or professional levels of lighting."

SEATING

According to Dean Baker, VP/sales for Gared Sports, the big news in seating is that anything more three rows high must have a handrail. Seating must meet the requirements of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the anticipated U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standards.

"It's kind of accepted in many states--in California it is mandatory," says Kohl. "Mostly, it comes down to insurance companies requiring the addition of handrails for safety reasons."

To compensate for the new standards, companies like Gared can either retro fit existing seating handrails or provide a wide array of new outdoor seating choices. That said outdoor aluminum seating is now available in colors, which was only previously present in plastic or wood seating.

Gared offers four colors: forest, navy, scarlet, and royal, in addition to basic silver. As far as length, Gared's longest seat is 21 feet. Seat planks are 10 inches wide and foot planks are 12 inches wide.

If a school has plans to renovate its seating, Baker offers the following advice:

"The frame and the handrails should be galvanized steel. The seating should be 100% anodized aluminum with a wall thickness of .085 inches. Use aluminum foot planks instead of steel, so they don't rust. And if you are going to use aluminum seating indoors, make sure you use rubber pre-protectors so it doesn't scratch the floors."

LOCKER SYSTEMS

Athletic or sport-specific lockers are virtually indestructible while providing amenities that run the gamut from anti-graffiti and anti-microbial finishes to extensive ventilation and plastic bottoms.

"It's not so much the appearance or design as it is the durability," says Jeff Gordon of Lyon Metals, manufacturer of premium locker systems.

Gordon says that when it comes to locker systems, coaches and AD's are "looking for something that can survive in that athletic environment where the student-athletes are often alone with the lockers, and therefore can do things to them that might not do in corridors. Budget is probably the biggest concern."

Lyon's Integrated Frame All-Welded steel locker was developed for the Chicago Public School System, based on committee meetings and addressing survival issues in the school district.

Gordon reports that schools are changing to heavy-duty lockers with different locking systems, like the single point latch, which has no moving parts and is designed to be used with a padlock.

Heavy-duty, or knock down, lockers used for physical education applications have 16 gauge body parts and a 14 gauge door. For lockers used in athletic or sports applications, Lyon offers larger lockers that are available up to 30-something inches wide or open face lockers.

"The welded lockers have been around for a while," says Gordon, whose company offers 50 premium colors. "We've added heavy duty lockers in the last 10 to 15 years, that being heavier gauges and improved latching. We also have a turn handle, with lock rods rather than a lock bar, that engage the frame rather door jams.

"Right now, our integrated frame all-welded locker is really meeting the security requirements."

Regarding size, P.E. application lockers are typically 12" X 12" X 12". Sports applications and larger single-tiered lockers are 24" X 18" X 72".

Lyon's latest innovation is its exclusive anti-microbial finish ideal for P.E. and sports applications. The secret is a patented process in the powder coating in the topcoat of the paint.

"It kills bacteria 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Gordon says.

Harry Popolow, senior product manager for Penco Products, Inc., another manufacturer of quality lockers and storage systems, says his company is also at the cutting edge of paints and finishes for lockers.

"We're offering special paint which provides protection against rusting called Powder Coat Plus," he says. "It's somewhat like the automotive and outdoor furniture companies have done. We also have our Anti-Graffiti paint that allows you to wipe off any type of marker or pen. It doesn't penetrate the lockers. Both finishes are intended to provide additional coverage."

Penco, in conjunction with Troevel, a Minneapolis, MN-based company, has developed a plastic bottom that is either retrofitted into an existing locker or an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in a standard locker.

"That's the area which is most likely to be damaged," says Popolow. "It will prevent against anything that drips."

Two of Penco's newest locker systems are the Pro-Tough, a heavy duty welded locker that has extensive perforations for ventilation, and an as yet unnamed line (at press) that is waterproof, has heavy ventilation, a plastic bottom, and powder coat paint all at a lower price point.

The company's tried-and-true Stadium locker is ideally suited for athletic team rooms where easy access to uniforms and/or equipment is required. The open front and visually perforated sides create full ventilation while allocating a specific storage space to each individual.