The gymnasium is now open after being closed for nearly two weeks after the dramatic event at the beginning of February.

One-third of the gymnasium was heavily damaged after one of the pipes above the gym broke down, causing water to spread everywhere. This breakdown happened about three weeks ago, on February 3, during a cold wave. The incident resulted in the flooding of the floor, which caused the gymnasium to be unusable for about two weeks.

The fact that it was inoperable for that long affected all the school’s pupils. The gymnasium is one, if not the most frequented place in the whole school, as it is constantly being used: At lunchtime, in our physical education courses, it is even being used after school for all the Épervier’s practices.” I’m thrilled the gymnasium is not closed anymore. Physical education is  by far my favourite subject at school,” said a student at La Camaradière. 

After the episode, the school spent its first week parching the gymnasium and clearing its floor of all the water. To do so, they used heaters, vacuums, and other devices. They then proceeded to sand the defective part. By doing so, they lost all the lines in the area. They later made temporary basketball lines to make it easier for players to practice their sport. “Remarkably, the school is reacting fast to the problems caused by this incident to ensure we can practice our sport without any bad calls being made because of an absence of lines,” said Marko, a young basketball prospect. The third and last step to this quick solution was to varnish the whole section to ensure it would last until refurbished next summer. Two options are being studied presently.

The First Option

The first one could be called the synthetic option. The school would be obligated to remove the entirety of the floor and then position a large roll of artificial turf. The lines would already be on the surface, so they would not need to be painted later. The downside of this option would be that it is incredibly tricky to line up the stripes with the various nets and possible layouts. Little mistakes could cause the lines to be off and not align properly.

The Second Option

The second option is hardwood. The school would strap the whole floor and change it back to hardwood. Later, the lines would be painted on the floor to ensure they would not be off. Of course, the first option would be less expensive, as hardwood is costly.

For now, the students do with what they have, but everyone at the school hopes to have a new floor as soon as possible.