Alemany High Athletic Program Is on the Bubble : Gymnasium: Domed temporary facility gives Indians a practice floor to call their own.

It looks like a huge white caterpillar and the temperature inside is unbearable. There are no windows, and the only way in or out is through a stubborn revolving door.

Welcome to Alemany High’s temporary gymnasium, just one of the legacies the Northridge earthquake left after it rolled through the campus on Jan. 17 and caused over $6 million in damage.

With the old gym deemed unsafe and funds for repairs to the campus in limbo, Alemany administrators decided to erect the temporary facility 10 minutes away near the school’s seminary at a cost of more than $150,000, according to Athletic Director Dudley Rooney.

“We’ve been coming up with some names for this place, but some of them are unprintable,” Rooney said.

The new gym, which seats around 400, is enclosed by a canvas-like material that is inflated to form a dome over the court. People squeeze in one at a time through a revolving door.

Inside, they must deal with daytime heat and the noise of a large fan that continuously blows air in to keep the dome inflated. Lighting is provided by high-powered lamps that shine through the bubble from the outside.

AirDomes Inc., a Beaverton, Ore.-based company, produced the dome and a similar one for L.A. Baptist High.

A computer monitors changing weather conditions and adjusts the air pressure inside the bubble to withstand them. Otherwise, “it’s really just like any brick-and-mortar building,” said Jeff Hopkins, co-president of AirDomes Inc.

Finishing touches, such as a cooling system, scoreboards and basketball backboards, still must be put in place, but when construction is complete, Alemany basketball, volleyball and wrestling teams will call this place home for at least the next year.

“I guess you can call us the Bubble Boys,” said Robert Webb, Alemany boys’ basketball coach.

Four teams--boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, wrestling and boys’ volleyball--were forced to practice and play home games elsewhere last winter after the earthquake.

“We traveled to practice, traveled to games--it was incredible,” Webb said. “Logistically, it was such a problem because we had to travel every day.”

None of Alemany’s games were postponed, though, thanks to help from neighboring schools.

“There were a lot of positive experiences that came out of this for us,” Rooney said. “There was a great spirit of cooperation from all the schools that helped us.”

Sports that are currently in the middle of summer programs, such as boys’ and girls’ basketball and girls’ volleyball, have to look for places to practice every day until finishing touches can be put on the temporary gym.

“It’s been a tough time, but we’re fighting through it real well,” said junior Adrian Pantoja, captain of the boys’ basketball team. “We’re showing a lot of pride and we’re playing really good under the circumstances.”

Rooney has asked Webb if his team would play in the makeshift gym this season, but Webb said he would not decide until he sees the gym himself.

“It’s not that we wouldn’t play there,” Webb said. “It’s just that we can’t expect league teams to play in a place that is less than acceptable.”

Alemany High officials will not know when repairs on the campus will begin until the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Federal Emergency Management Agency finish negotiating a final dollar figure for aid to the school. Funding for all of the school’s temporary facilities has been provided by the archdiocese.

So far, damage to the campus has not hurt the Catholic school’s enrollment, with 410 freshmen expected to join the 1,650 student body next fall.

“We don’t know what’s going on with repairs, but we sell Alemany as an academic school and a people school,” Rooney said. “We don’t look at Alemany as just a bunch of buildings.”