First Look At New And Improved Polson Gym: "It's Amazing. It's Perfect."

Members of the Madison Board of Education, the community volunteers who helped with the project and the seniors on the Daniel Hand High School Boys Basketball team got a first look at the newly renovated Polson Gym Tuesday night during their board meeting. 

Their reaction? 

"It's amazing. It's perfect," said Sam Jablonski, who was invited to the event to play an exhibition two-on-two with his teammates Phil Crampton, Scott Baren and Brendan Hughes. 

At the meeting, the Madison Board of Education members thanked the volunteers and staff members on the Polson Gym building committee, who put in long hours over a long period of time on the project.

They specifically thanked Polson Principal Frank Henderson, who attended Tuesday night, John Kramer, Brian Hughes, Steve Lutz, Athletic Director Craig Semple, and Board of Education member Jean Fitzgerald. 

They also gave specific thanks and praise to Madison Facilities Manager Bill McMinn and the School's Operations Manager Marc Mastriano, both of whom also attended the first look Tuesday night. Mastriano attended the meeting with his screwdriver in hand. 

Henderson praised the team working on the project as the ideal mix of parents, community, school, and school board. 

"This was a great team," he said. With the help of team members, "we were able to go from good to great" on the project. He gave specific thanks to Matriano for his hard work, and for keeping people off the gym floor until it was ready. 

"Marc tackled anyone who came near it," Henderson said. 

The Daniel Hand High School varsity boys and girls basketball teams will be among those using the gym when their season starts in late November and early December.

The girls will have their first scrimmage at the gym on Nov. 27 at 5:30 p.m. The boys will have their first game at the gym on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 9:30 a.m. The pubic is invited to attend.