OAK PARK : High School to Replace Gym Carpet

Oak Park High School has long had the dubious honor of being the only high school in the state with a carpeted gym floor.

But this month, athletes at the school are finally getting the 10-year-old rug pulled out from under them.

“It’s time we had a real floor,” said Fred Yamano, the school’s athletic director. “It’s something we have been looking forward to for a long time.”

Installation of the new hardwood floor will be completed by June 1, in time for graduation ceremonies, Yamano said. The new floor will replace the worn-out rug that has been there since the school opened in 1981, he said.

“The coaches hate it,” Yamano said. “It’s difficult to teach skills needed in basketball and volleyball because you can’t slide along the floor. It’s really not designed for competitive sports.”

The rug was originally installed because it required less maintenance than wood, Yamano said. The carpet was vacuumed once or twice a week and steam cleaned yearly, Yamano said.

But after 10 years of heavy use, the rug is ripped in many places and adhesive tape is peeling off temporary patches. Students often trip on loose edges and suffer painful rug burns, he said.

The carpeted floor gave Oak Park an advantage over teams that were not used to playing on carpet, but Oak Park students were not learning proper playing techniques, Yamano said.

“Coming off the carpet onto a regular floor is always a little hard for them. It takes 5 to 8 minutes just to get used to the wood,” Yamano said.

With a new floor, Oak Park students will not only be able to meet their opponents on an equal footing, but they will be able to hear the full roar of the crowd.

Because the carpeting absorbed much of the gym’s noise, Yamano said, the crowd always sounded a little flat. “You also don’t have that nice squeak when your sneakers slip,” he said.