Training Center Boosters Must Weight and See

Coach John Barnes already has the area picked out and a vision of what his school’s new weight facility will look like.

It will be next to the pool on the west side of the football field, and it’s the perfect area, Barnes says. But at the moment, it’s really nothing but grass.

At the start of the next football season, however, you may be able to walk into the new Griffin Training Center and Hall of Fame.

First, Barnes says, you will see the numerous awards and trophies won throughout the school’s history, then the spacious weight room.

The head football coach from Los Alamitos High School is pitching for a new weight facility for the school’s athletes but especially for his football players, who currently have to squeeze into a small, decades-old modular building where as many as 90 kids can be seen working out. Windows are scarce and space is limited.

“It will be a very, very nice facility. Our goal was, if we were going to do this, we would make it very nice and something that would last forever, something that we could be proud of.”

At a recent school board meeting, Barnes gave a presentation on what a loosely organized group of parents, alumni and community members are trying to accomplish. He explained the costs--about $300,000--what the benefits would be and where they are hoping to build the facility.

Barnes is hopeful the district trustees will approve their plan for the building soon. He says the group plans to do all the fund-raising and hopes to find matching funds, private or public, to renovate the existing weight room.

“With just word of mouth, we’ve already got a bit of donations,” Barnes, a coach at Los Alamitos for 21 years said. As an example, he said a former football player who left in 1985 sent a $200 check, and several others have sent a few thousand dollars each.

It’s still a long way from the $250,000 to $300,000 that the group needs to raise for the facility, but expectations are high. Last spring, the ball got rolling when architect Fred Good, father of another former football player, drew some preliminary plans of the building and designed a color brochure.

Ken Hanson is part of the committee that will start active fund-raising after the football season. His son, a former football player who graduated last year, says the small-town atmosphere at football games and the community support is crucial.

“It’s just a community thing to do, football games. It’s like Podunk, Arkansas, on a Friday night.”

Ana Cholo-Tipton can be reached at (714) 966-5890.