Alemany’s Gym Is on the Bubble : Earthquake: Winter sports facing life on the road as problems plague inflatable structure.

There is not enough light, or heat, or seating capacity or even entrances to the thing. It leaks, water seeps in through the floor when it rains, and high winds Wednesday tore holes in the structure.

Otherwise, things are just fine with Alemany High’s inflatable domed gymnasium.

“Every time we solve a problem, a new one comes up,” Athletic Director Dudley Rooney said.

Welcome to post-earthquake life at the Mission Hills campus, where dilemmas are as commonplace as pencils and the sustained sound of hissing air comes from its real-life bubble that is slowly bursting.

After spending more than $150,000 on the structure, at least $40,000 more in repairs and alterations, and untold hours trouble-shooting, the dome is nowhere near ready for the Indians’ winter sports teams. “I feel like a nomad,” girls’ basketball Coach Melissa Hearlihy said. “But if we’re going to stress out over the gym in the beginning of the year, it’s going to be a very long year. We’ll just deal with it and go on from there.”

Though the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams still hope to play at least some of their home games in the facility, both squads already have found alternate sites. Last season, the teams played all post-quake games on the road.

In addition, an annual tournament, sponsored by the highly successful girls’ basketball team and that routinely generates $1,500 for the athletic department, has been canceled. The Alemany girls were 30-1 last season and won the Southern Section Division II-A championship.

“I wouldn’t recommend that type of a dome for use as a gym,” Father Robert Milbauer, Alemany’s principal, said on Thursday. “It’s too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.”

The state architect’s office--saying there was no code for such a building on school grounds--recently rejected Simi Valley High’s plan to erect a similar dome to replace its earthquake-damaged gym.

But because Alemany is a private school, it didn’t need such approval. And though the dome seems like a giant boondoggle, school officials haven’t yet given up on the project.

Thursday, workers installed additional banks of lights on poles standing outside the gym. The lights illuminate the court by shining through the white, vinyl-like exterior, which covers the hardwood floor and is inflated with a large fan. The existing lamps haven’t provided sufficient lighting.

But even if the new lights solve that problem, they can’t heat the dome’s chilly winter air. “We’ve got an electrical contractor looking at that,” Rooney said. “We’re not sure how we’re going to solve that.”

How about the puddles that formed during the first rain? “A contractor dug a trench under it, which we hope will solve that,” he continued.

And the leaks? “We’re in the process of patching them.”

Alemany’s old gym--along with most of the school’s buildings--was rendered unusable by the Northridge earthquake Jan. 17. Students attend classes in a nearby seminary. A decision to repair the buildings or raze them and rebuild is expected by late December.

For now, playing home games depends on the state of the dome. Portable NBA-style backboards arrive today. Indoor/outdoor carpeting has been installed, as has a sound system, emergency exits and handicap access.

Seating capacity is 400, but the only real entrance is through a stubborn revolving door. “That would take forever,” Milbauer said. “We’ll probably have to open up the emergency doors to let students in for games. Oh! That reminds me. The material around the emergency doors was ripping in the high winds yesterday. I’m going to have to call someone about that.”