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<DOCID>Can_Athletics_Floor_it_v2.doc.txt</DOCID>
<AUTHOR>Aaron Kopitz</AUTHOR>
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Well Lakers, an issue seems to be popping up time and time again, similar to the nails in the Bud Cooper Gymnasium floor. It is time for someone to take the hammer of responsibility and put this issue to bed. What Lake State has in the Norris Center is a temporary gym floor, which has exceeded its expiration date. Many sweat stained shirts, scraped knees and time have been put into this floor.

When the Norris Center was built in 1973, a composite floor was installed in the gym. Over the years, studies have shown that this choice of flooring was inappropriate and difficult to maintain. In 1999 a refurbished, portable wood floor was purchased from Northern Michigan University at the cost of $73,000. The life expectancy of this portable floor was seven years. Now seven years later and at the cost of precious person-hours and possible championships it is time to replace this seven year-old floor.

The funding for the new permanent floor is primarily coming from fundraising done by the Lake Superior State University Foundation and the sports teams that use the gymnasium. They are currently at 40% of their goal of $300,000. This money needs to be raised by May 1, 2007 so the renovation deadline of August 1, 2007 can be met. If the goal is not reached before May renovation of the floor could be delayed.

The question is, is this new floor really worth it? Is it worth raising $300,000 to install a new gym floor? The money being raised is not going solely to the new floor. Part of the money being raised will go towards installing new ceiling mounted baskets and dividers for the court. Any excess money will go towards the maintenance fund of the floor. 

When considering whether to purchase a new portable floor, or install a real floor in the gym, it is important to consider the time and money required to disassemble and reassemble a portable floor. It takes sixteen to eighteen people three to four hours to assemble the floor and it takes the same number of people to disassemble it in one hour. The portable floor must be disassembled and reassembled three times a year. Once in the summer for storage and again in the fall for the season and possibly once more if the floor buckles or comes loose. 

Over the seven years Lake State has owned the portable floor, around $18,763 has been spent on this dance of the floor to pay for all of the man-hours involved.  Over seventy years, the cost of moving portable floors about would exceed $187,630.  Replacing the floors every seven years would add to the cost of using portable floors, raising the total cost to $917,639.   Even taking into account that the cost of maintaining a new floor is still under negotiation, the cost of installing and maintaining a permanent floor is likely to be significantly less than the cost associated with using portable floors.

Even though money is an important consideration, the main reason Athletics wishes to replace the gym floor is for the community, enrollment, and the students. If Lake State wants the best, it has to offer the best and one way to can do this is by improving our facilities. When possible future Lakers come and see our facilities, we want them to feel confident in their decision. Having a new floor can turn a "I'm not sure I want to go to Lake State" into a "I am going to Lake State". The new floor can also increase community involvement. Having better use of space provides opportunities that are currently closed. New court dividers can allow the local community and summer camps to come in and train while Lake State athletes train. Kristin Dunbar, Director of Athletics, sums it up perfectly when she says, "It will be very helpful to all students and make the Norris Center more useful and bring more revenue to Lake State." So will LSSU athletics floor it in time or will they miss their shot?

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