Items a part of AD Aaron Spaulding's 'wish list'

CHARLOTTESVILLE — At the end of the recent school year, Eastern Hancock athletic director Aaron Spaulding was asked by the school board and Superintendent Randy Harris to compile an overview of the athletic department. In addition to a recap of the 2011-12 year in Royal sports, Spaulding provided a ‘wish list’ to the board during its most recent meeting on June 11.

Spaulding submitted a list of nine items, with two aims taking priority: new bleachers for the high school gym and increased use of an athletic trainer.

The current set of bleachers were installed with the high school, which opened in 1970, and now cause regular headaches.

“Their functionality sometimes is very challenging, so to speak, as far as getting them out,” said Spaulding, who is also the head boys’ basketball coach at EH. “Sometimes we have to take it in and out, in and out several times just to get them out.”

Presently, the bleacher system also does not allow for chair seats for opposing teams, though safety and cost efficiency are the driving forces behind the call for replaing the 42-year-old seating apparatus.

“They’ve been pulled in and pushed back probably thousands of times. We spend money every year repairing it, keeping it up to code and safe. With anything mechanical, you nurse it along but you get to the point where it’s worn out,” explained Eastern Hancock principal Dave Pfaff. “It’s cheaper in the long run to replace it. Aaron and I agree; we believe we are nearing a point where those bleachers have served their normal lifetime.”

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